Incumbents

Events

January
- Great Recoinage of 1696: The Parliament of England passes the Recoinage Act.
- Colley Cibber's play Love's Last Shift is first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.
27 January – the ship HMS Royal Sovereign (formerly HMS Sovereign of the Seas, 1638) catches fire and burns at Chatham, after 57 years of service.
15 February – a Jacobite assassination attempt against King William III is foiled.^[1]
March – Habeas Corpus suspended during a Jacobite invasion scare.^[2]
April – window tax introduced.^[2]
May – Great Recoinage of 1696: Shortage of silver coinage results in the guinea being officially revalued at 21 shillings, instead of 30.^[2]
21 November – John Vanbrugh's play The Relapse, or Virtue in Danger first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.^[2]

Edward Lloyd (coffeehouse owner) probably begins publication of Lloyd's News, a predecessor of Lloyd's List, in London.
Poets Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady publish New Version of the Psalms of David ("Tate and Brady"), a metrical psalter.

27 June – William Pepperrell, colonial soldier (died 1759)
14 July – William Oldys, antiquarian and bibliographer (died 1761)
12 August – Maurice Greene, composer (died 1755)
13 October – John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, statesman and writer (died 1743)
22 December – James Oglethorpe, general and founder of the state of Georgia as a colony (died 1785)

18 March – Robert Charnock, conspirator (born c. 1663)
30 April – Robert Plot, naturalist (born 1640)
28 May – William Gregory, politician and judge (born 1625)
30 May – Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell, First Lord of the Admiralty (born 1638)
24 June – Philip Henry, minister (born 1631)
11 July – William Godolphin, politician (born 1635)
13 September – Caleb Banks, politician (born 1659)
8 December – Charles Porter, English-born judge (born 1631)
12 December – John Hampden (1653–1696), politician (born 1653)

^ Moody, T. W.; et al., eds. (1989). A New History of Ireland. 8: A Chronology of Irish History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-821744-2.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 200–201. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
^ Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 287. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.

Years in England (927–present)

10th century
Pre-927 927 928 929 930 931 932 933 934 935 936 937 938 939 940 941 942 943 944 945 946 947 948 949 950 951 952 953 954 955 956 957 958 959 960 961 962 963 964 965 966 967 968 969 970 971 972 973 974 975 976 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 984 985 986 987 988 989 990 991 992 993 994 995 996 997 998 999 1000

11th century

12th century

13th century

14th century

15th century

16th century

17th century

18th century

19th century

20th century

21st century
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

v t e 1696 in Europe
Sovereign states	Andorra Austria Denmark–Norway Denmark Norway England France Holy Roman Empire Hungary Ireland Malta Monaco Netherlands Ottoman Empire Papal States Portugal Prussia Russia San Marino Scotland Spain Sweden Switzerland
Dependencies, colonies and other territories	Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey