1712 in Great Britain:

Other years

1710 | 1711 | 1712 | 1713 | 1714

Events from the year 1712 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Incumbents

• Monarch - Anne of Great Britain

Events

• 1 January - War of the Spanish Succession: Peace congress opens at Utrecht.
• 17 January - Robert Walpole imprisoned in the Tower of London following charges of corruption.^[1]
• 24 July - War of the Spanish Succession: At the Battle of Denain, the French defeat a combined Dutch-Austrian force following the withdrawal of British troops.^[2]
• 4 November - Bandbox Plot: Jonathan Swift foils an attempted murder of Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.^[3]

Undated

• Newcomen steam engine is the first practical device to harness the power of steam to produce mechanical work.
• John Arbuthnot creates the character of "John Bull" to represent Britain.^[4]
• Building begins of St. Paul's, Deptford, a church designed by Thomas Archer.^[1]

Publications

• Barnaby Lintot's Miscellaneous Poems, including, anonymously, Alexander Pope's poem The Rape of the Lock.^[4]

Births

• 17 January - John Stanley, composer (died 1786)
• 8 March - John Fothergill, physician (died 1780)
• 22 March - Edward Moore, writer (died 1757)
• 14 October - George Grenville, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1770)
• 21 October - Sir James Denham Steuart, 4th Baronet, economist (died 1780)
• Richard Glover, poet (died 1785)

Deaths

• 2 February - Martin Lister, naturalist and physician (born c. 1638)
• 25 March - Nehemiah Grew, naturalist (born 1641)
• 1 July - William King, poet (born 1663)
• 12 July - Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland (born 1626)
• 26 July - Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, statesman (born 1631)
• 3 August - Joshua Barnes, scholar (born 1654)
• 18 August - Richard Savage, 4th Earl Rivers, soldier (born c. 1660)
• 29 August - Gregory King, statistician (born 1648)

References

See also