1768
1768 was a
leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar).
*
Secretary of State for colonies appointed in
Britain*
Massachusetts Assembly dissolved for refusing to assist collection of taxes.
*
Boston citizens refuse to quarter
British troops
*
Gurkhas conquer
Nepal* First of the weekly numbers of the
Encyclopædia Britannica are published; 100 are planned
*
James Cook sets sail on his first voyage: 1768-1771
January
*
January 9 -
Philip Astley stages the first modern
circus (
London)
February
March
April
May
*
May 10 -
John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for the
North Briton severely criticizing
King George III. This action provokes rioting in
London*
May 15 - After the
Treaty of Versailles, the island of
Corsica is ceded by
Genoa to
France.
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
*
December 1 - The slave ship
Fredensborg sinks off
Tromøy in
Norway.
*
December 21 -
Nepal is united.
*
War of the Regulation (
1764-
1771)
* Captain James Cook's first voyage (1768-1771)
*
January 7 -
Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples and Spain (d.
1844)
*
January 28 - King
Frederick VI of Denmark (d.
1839)
*
February 12 -
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (d.
1835)
*
February 13 -
Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, French marshal (d.
1835)
*
March 21 -
Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, French mathematician and physicist (d.
1830)
*
March 22 -
Melesina Trench, Irish born writer and socialite (d.
1827)
*
May 17 -
Caroline of Brunswick, queen of
George IV of the United Kingdom (d.
1821)
*May 17 -
Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, English general (d.
1854)
*
May 20 -
Dolley Madison,
First Lady of the United States (d.
1849)
*
June 9 -
Samuel Slater, American industrialist (d.
1835)
*
July 27 -
Charlotte Corday. French murderess of
Jean-Paul Marat (d.
1793)
*
August 6 -
Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French marshal (d.
1813)
*
September 4 -
François-René de Chateaubriand, French writer and diplomat (d.
1848)
*
October 2 -
William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, British general and politician (d.
1854)
*
November 18 -
Zacharias Werner, German religious poet (d.
1823)
*
November 21 -
Friedrich Schleiermacher, German theologian (d.
1834)
*
February 1 -
Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, British cavalry officer (b.
1685)
*
February 2 -
Robert Smith, English mathematician (b.
1689)
*
February 8 -
George Dance the Elder, English architect (b.
1695)
*
February 17 -
Arthur Onslow, English politician (b.
1691)
*
March 1 -
Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher and writer (b.
1694)
*
March 3 -
Nicola Porpora, Italian composer (b.
1686)
*
March 18 -
Laurence Sterne, Irish writer (b.
1713)
*
April 10 -
Canaletto, Italian artist (b.
1697)
*
April 29 -
Georg Brandt, Swedish chemist and minerologist (b.
1694)
*
June 8 -
Johann Joachim Winckelmann, German classical scholar and archaeologist (b.
1717)
*
June 15 -
James Short, Scottish mathematician and optician (b.
1710)
*
June 19 -
Benjamin Tasker, Provincial Governor of Maryland (b.
1690)
*
July 6 -
Conrad Beissel, German-born religious leader
*
July 24 -
Nathanial Lardner, English theologian (b.
1684)
*
August 17 (N. S.) -
Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (b.
1703)
*
September 2 -
Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician (b.
1703)
*
October 1 -
Robert Simson, Scottish mathematician (b.
1687)
*
October 28 -
Michel Blavet, French flutist (b.
1700)
*
October 31 -
Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian composer (b.
1690)
*
November 17 -
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, English statesman (b.
1693)
*
December 8 -
Jean Denis Attiret, French Jesuit missionary and painter (b.
1702)
*
December 20 -
Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (b.
1692)
*
Thomas Secker,
Archbishop of Canterbury (b.
1693)
