1772 in Great Britain

1772 in Great Britain:

Other years

1770 | 1771 | 1772 | 1773 | 1774

Sport

1772 English cricket season

Events from the year 1772 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

• Monarch - George III
• Prime Minister - Lord North (Tory)

Events

• 24 March - Royal Marriages Act 1772 requires the monarch's consent for the marriage of all members of the royal family.
• 28 May - Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal open for traffic throughout from a junction with the Trent and Mersey Canal to the River Severn at Stourport. Engineered by James Brindley, this is the first British trunk canal completed and its dimensions determine the size of boat used throughout the narrow canal network (72 feet (22 m) by 7 feet (2.1 m)).
• June - Honourable East India Company threatened with bankruptcy following a financial crisis in Scotland.
• 22 June - Somersett's Case: Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice delivers the decision that slavery is not supported by the common law of England.
• 13 July - Navigator James Cook sets out from Plymouth on HMS Resolution for a second Pacific voyage.
• 12 September - Daniel Rutherford demonstrates the method of distinguishing nitrogen from other gases.
• 21 September - Birmingham Canal Navigations main line open for traffic, linking Birmingham to the River Severn via the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal.
• 2 November - The Morning Post newspaper published for the first time.

Births

• 19 April - David Ricardo, economist (died 1823)
• 22 April - George Cockburn, naval commander (died 1853)
• 20 May - William Congreve, rocket pioneer (died 1828)
• 21 October - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, poet and philosopher, (died 1834)

Deaths

• 8 February - Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales (born 1719)
• 22 March - John Canton, physicist (born 1718)
• 31 August - William Borlase, Cornish antiquary and naturalist (born 1695)
• 30 September - James Brindley, canal builder (born 1716)