1751 - 1760

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1752

September 3: Julian Calendar dropped and Gregorian Calendar adopted in England, making this September 14 – "Give us back our 11 days!"

Year standardised to end December 31 (previously March 24)

1753

Earliest Inghamite registers

1754

Hardwicke Act (1753): Banns to be called, and Printed Marriage Register forms to be used – Quakers & Jews exempt

First British troops not belonging to the East India Company despatched to India

First printed Annual Army Lists

1755

Publication of Dictionary of the English Language by Dr Johnson

Period of canal construction began in Britain (till 1827)

1756

The Seven Years War with France (Pitt's trade war) begins 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(1756-1791), Austrian composer.

1757

March 14: Admiral Byng shot at Portsmouth for failing to relieve Minorca

India: The Nawab of Bengal tries to expel the British, but is defeated at the battle of Plassy – the East India Company forces are led by Robert Clive

Black Hole of Calcutta

The foundation laid for the Empire of India

1758

India stops being merely a commercial venture – England begins dominating it politically – The East India Company retains its monopoly although it ceased to trade

1759

January 15: British Museum opens to the public in London

March: First predicted return of Halley's comet

September 13: Gen James Woolfe killed at Quebec

Wesley builds 356 Methodist chapels

1760

October 25: George II dies – George III Hanover, his grandson, becomes king

The date conventionally marks the start of the so-called "first Industrial Revolution"

Carron Iron Works in operation in Scotland