Events from the year 1707 in Great Britain, created on 1 May this year as a consequence of the 1706 Treaty of Union and its ratification by the 1707 Acts of Union.^[1]

Incumbents

Monarch – Anne
Parliament – 2nd of Queen Anne (since 29 April for Great Britain), 1st of Great Britain (starting 23 October)

Events

12 May (1 May Old Style) – The new sovereign state of Great Britain comes into being as a result of the Acts of Union which ratified the Treaty of Union: the kingdoms of England and Scotland are combined into a single, United Kingdom^[2] and merge the Parliaments of England and Scotland to form the Parliament of Great Britain.^[3] The Equivalent, a sum of £398,000, is paid to Scotland by the English government due to Scotland now taking on shared responsibility for England’s national debt.
8 July – "Hot Tuesday"^[4] – estimated temperature in England 38°C.
29 July–21 August – War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Toulon – Allies, including British forces under Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell, are obliged to withdraw, but the French fleet is effectively put out of action.
22 October – Scilly naval disaster: Four Royal Navy ships, including HMS Association, run aground in the Isles of Scilly because of faulty navigation – Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell and at least 1450 sailors are drowned.
23 October – first sitting of the Parliament of Great Britain, at Westminster.^[3]
5 December – first meeting of the Society of Antiquaries takes place in the Bear Tavern on The Strand, London.^[5]

A new Succession to the Crown Act requires the senior officers of state to proclaim the next protestant heir as successor to the British throne on the death of Queen Anne, on pain of treason; and provides for the continuance of Parliament on the monarch’s death.
Establishment of Warminster School in Wiltshire as Lord Weymouth's Grammar School.
Establishment of the Fortnum & Mason department store in London.^[6]

John Oldmixon, The Muses Mercury; or, The Monthly Miscellany, published monthly from January of this year to January 1708^[7]

24 August – Selina Hastings, Methodist leader (died 1791)
September – Nathan Alcock, physician (died 1779)
5 September – John Forbes, general (died 1759)
18 December – Charles Wesley, Methodist leader, brother of John Wesley (died 1788)
probable – William Hoare, portrait painter, noted for his pastels (died 1792)

17 June – Antonio Verrio, painter (born 1639 in Italy)
23 June – John Mill, theologian (born c. 1645)
18 August – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, soldier and statesman (born 1640)
15 September – George Stepney, poet and diplomat (born 1663)
23 September – John Tutchin, radical Whig controversialist, gadfly journalist and poet (born c. 1661)
22 October – Sir Cloudesley Shovell, admiral, drowned (born 1650)
1 December – Jeremiah Clarke, composer and organist, suicide (born 1674)
probable – Henry Playford, music publisher (born 1657)

^ Hugh F. Kearney, The British Isles: a history of four nations (2006), p. 215
^ "Act of Union 1707". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
^ ^a ^b Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 291. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
^ Bowen, David (1973). Britain's Weather: its Workings, Lore and Forecasting. Newton Abbot: David & Charles.
^ Sweet, Rosemary (2004). Antiquaries: the Discovery of the Past in Eighteenth-Century Britain. London: Cambridge University Press. p. 84. ISBN 1-85285-309-3. Retrieved 30 September 2010.
^ "Icons, a portrait of England 1700-1750". Archived from the original on 17 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-24.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w Cox, Michael, editor, The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature, Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-19-860634-6
^ Palmer, Alan & Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 205–206. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
^ Web page titled "John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647 – 1680)" at the Poetry Foundation website, retrieved April 11, 2009. Archived August 8, 2010, at the Wayback Machine 2009-05-02.

Years in Great Britain (1707–1800) → 1801–present

1707–1800

v t e 1707 in Europe
Sovereign states	Andorra Austria Denmark–Norway Denmark Norway France Great Britain Holy Roman Empire Hungary Ireland Malta Monaco Netherlands Ottoman Empire Papal States Portugal Prussia Russia San Marino Spain Sweden Switzerland
Dependencies, colonies and other territories	Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey