Long 18th Century
1588-11-23 04:39:45
Thomas Hobbes
Philosopher
1596-11-02 22:17:27
René Descartes
Philosopher
1600-12-01 00:00:00
Charles I
King of England, Scotland, and Ireland
1607-09-01 00:00:00
First performance of Hamlet
First performance of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' by the crew of the ship Red Dragon.
1608-12-01 00:00:00
John Milton
Poet and polemicist
1623-12-01 00:00:00
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle
Writer
1628-12-01 00:00:00
John Bunyan
Author and Baptist minister
1631-12-01 00:00:00
John Dryden
Poet, playwright, and critic
1632-01-14 13:14:36
John Locke
Philosopher
1632-04-15 23:53:53
Baruch Spinoza
Philosopher
1633-02-23 07:41:44
Birth of Samuel Pepys
1634-12-01 00:00:00
Sir George Etherege
Playwright and diplomat
1640-12-01 00:00:00
Aphra Behn
Writer
1641-12-01 00:00:00
William Wycherley
Playwright
1641-12-01 00:00:00
Irish Rebellion
1643-12-01 00:00:00
Sir Isaac Newton
Natural philosopher and mathematician
1647-12-01 00:00:00
John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester
Poet and courtier
1649-01-30 04:39:45
Beheading of Charles I
Charles I was beheaded on this date, effectively ending the English Civil War which began in 1642.
1660-05-29 00:00:00
Reign of Charles II
Charles II's father, Charles I, was executed in 1649 during the English Civil War. Nine years later Cromwell died, the 'Restoration' of the monarchy took place, and Charles II was finally coronated in 1660.
1660-12-01 00:00:00
Daniel Defoe
Writer
1663-12-01 00:00:00
James Shirley invents the first reflecting telescope
1667-12-01 00:00:00
Jonathan Swift
Writer and dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin
1670-12-01 00:00:00
William Congreve
Playwright and poet
1671-12-01 00:00:00
Anthony Ashley Cooper, third Earl of Shaftesbury
Philosopher and author
1672-12-01 00:00:00
Joseph Addison
Writer and politician
1674-02-04 06:39:39
Isaac Watts
Independent minister, writer and poet
1678-12-01 00:00:00
George Farquhar
Playwright
1685-12-01 00:00:00
George Berkeley
Church of Ireland bishop of Cloyne and philosopher
1685-12-01 00:00:00
John Gay
Poet and playwright
1688-09-28 21:00:03
The Glorious Revolution
1688-12-01 00:00:00
Alexander Pope
Poet
1689-12-01 00:00:00
Samuel Richardson
Printer and author
1694-12-01 00:00:00
Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
Writer and philosopher
1700-12-01 00:00:00
James Thomson
Poet
1703-12-01 00:00:00
John Wesley
Church of England clergyman and a founder of Methodism
1707-01-01 00:00:00
Mount Fuji erupts in Japan
Mount Fuji erupts in Japan for the first time in the 1700's.
1707-12-01 00:00:00
Henry Fielding
Author and magistrate
1707-12-01 00:00:00
Charles Wesley
Church of England clergyman and a founder of Methodism
1709-12-01 00:00:00
Samuel Johnson
Author and lexicographer
1711-08-31 02:19:22
David Hume
Philosopher and historian
1712-12-01 00:00:00
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Philosopher, composer and writer
1713-01-01 00:00:00
Laurence Sterne
Anglo-Irish novelist and Anglican clergyman
1713-02-24 16:36:44
Laurence Sterne
Writer and Church of England clergyman
1713-12-01 00:00:00
Denis Diderot
French philosopher, art critic, and writer
1714-08-01 04:39:45
Reign of George I
George I ascended the throne after the death of Queen Anne in 1714
1714-12-01 00:00:00
The Scriblerus Club
1716-02-24 16:36:44
Thomas Gray
Poet and literary scholar
1716-10-05 09:17:54
Lancelot 'Capability' Brown
Landscape gardener and architect
1720-09-13 13:10:47
South Sea Bubble
1721-12-01 00:00:00
William Collins
Poet