Some important dates in the seventeenth century

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1649; Charles I is executed for the first and only time, Britain briefly becomes a republic and is called the Commonwealth.
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1660; the Restoration of the monarchy and the Anglican religion.
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1666; the Great Fire of London destroys most of the city’s old wooden buildings. It also destroys the bubonic plague which never reappeared again. Most of the city’s fines churches, including St. Paul’s Cathedral, date from the period of rebuilding which followed.
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1688; the Glorious Revolution
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1690; the Presbyterian Church becomes the official Church of Scotland.
The eighteenth century
In 1707, the
Act of Union
was passed. Under this agreement, the Scottish parliament was dissolved and some of its member joined the English and Welsh parliament in London and the former two kingdoms became one United Kingdom of Great Britain. However, Scotland retained its own system of law, more similar to continental European systems than that of England’s. It does so to this day. Politically, the eighteenth century was stable. Both monarch and parliament got on quite well together. One reason for this was that the monarch’s favourite politicians, through the royal power of patronage (the ability to give people jobs.
Important dates of the 19
th
century
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1707; Act of Union was passed
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1708; the last occasion on which a British monarch refuses to accept a bill passed by Parliament.
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1746; at the battle of Culloden, a government army of English and lowland Scots defeat the highland army of Charles Edward, who, as grandson of the last Stuart king, claimed the British throne. Although he made no attempt to protect his supporters from revenge attacks afterwards, he is still a popular romantic legend in the highlands, and is known as Bonnie Prince Charlie.
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1763; the English writer Samuel Johnson coins the famous phrase, When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.
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1771; for the first time, parliament allows written records of its debates to be published freely.
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1782; James Watt invents the first steam engine.
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1783; after a war, Britain loses the southern half of its North American colonies (giving birth to the USA.
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1788; the first British settlers (convicts and soldiers) arrive in Australia.
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1800; the separate Irish parliament is closed and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is formed.
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1805; a British fleet under the command of Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats Napoleon’s French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square in London commemorates this national hero, who died during the battle.
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1829; Robert Peel, a government minister, organizes the first modern police force. The police are still sometimes known today as ‘bobbies’(Bobby is a short form of the name Robert.
- In that same year the Catholics and non-Anglican protestants are given the rights to hold government posts and become MPs.

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