1738 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1738 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

28 March - Robert Jenkins presents a pickled ear, which he claims was cut off by a Spanish captain in the Caribbean in 1731, to Parliament, stirring up war fever against Spain leading to the War of Jenkins' Ear the following year.^[1]
15 April - Première in London of Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel.
May
- Tiverton riot: wool trade workers riot over prices in Tiverton, Devon.
- The Fetter Lane Society is founded by followers of the Moravian Church in London.^[2]
24 May - John Wesley experiences a spiritual rebirth at a Moravian Church meeting in Aldersgate in the City of London, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day.^[2] His younger brother Charles had a similar experience three days earlier.
Late (dated 1739) - David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature is published anonymously.
Undated
- William Champion of Bristol patents a process to distill zinc from calamine using charcoal in a smelter.
- William Kent is appointed to remodel Rousham House and gardens in Oxfordshire, "a landmark in the history of the Romantic movement."^[3]

9 February (bapt.) - Mary Whateley, poet and playwright (died 1825)
14 April - William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1809)
26 April - Henry Clinton, officer (died 1795)
9 May - John Wolcot, satirist and poet (died 1819)
4 June (New Style, 24 May Old Style) - King George III of the United Kingdom (died 1820)
11 October - Arthur Phillip, admiral and Governor of New South Wales (died 1814)
15 November - William Herschel, German-born British astronomer (died 1822)
31 December - Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, general (died 1805)

1 May - Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, English statesman (born c. 1669)
21 June - Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, English politician (born 1674)
22 December - Constantia Jones, prostitute (executed) (born c. 1708)

↑ Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 306–307. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
1 2 Everett, Jason M., ed. (2006). "1738". The People's Chronology. Thomson Gale.
↑ Sherwood, Jennifer (1974). "Rousham Park". In Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus. Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 740–6. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.