1739 in Great Britain:
Other years
1737 \| 1738 \| 1739 \| 1740 \| 1741
Countries of the United Kingdom
Scotland
Sport
1739 English cricket season

Events from the year 1739 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

Events

14 January – Britain and Spain sign the Convention of Pardo.^[2]
16 January – first performance of George Frideric Handel's oratorio Saul at the His Majesty's Theatre, London.^[2]
February – George Whitefield first preaches in the open air, to miners at Kingswood, South Gloucestershire.
April – John Wesley first preaches in the open air, at Whitefield's invitation.
4 April – first performance of Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt at the King's Theatre, London.^[2]
12 May – John Wesley lays the foundation stone of the New Room, Bristol, the world's first Methodist meeting house.^[3]
17 October – the Foundling Hospital in London, established by Thomas Coram, is granted its royal charter.^[2]
23 October – "War of Jenkins' Ear" (1739–1742) begins when Britain declares war on Spain.^[2]
20–22 November – War of Jenkins' Ear: Battle of Porto Bello: British marine forces capture the Panamanian silver exporting town of Porto Bello from the Spanish.^[2]
25 December–February 1740 – the 'Great Frost': unusually harsh winter in southern England and Ireland.^[4]

January (dated 9 February) – The Scots Magazine first published.^[5]
David Hume's anonymous A Treatise of Human Nature^[4] (issued late 1738 but dated this year).
John Mottley's pseudonymous Joe Miller's Jests, or the Wits Vade-Mecum.
John and Charles Wesley's Hymns and Sacred Poems,^[6] including the first publication of Charles's "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", anonymously as "Hymn for Christmas-Day", opening "Hark how all the welkin rings".^[7]

^ "History of Sir Robert Walpole - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
^ "History of The New Room". Bristol: The New Room. Archived from the original on 2013-08-17. Retrieved 2011-07-17.
^ ^a ^b Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 215–216. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
^ Ward, A. W. (2009). The Cambridge History of English Literature. Vol. 9. p. 614. ISBN 9781110343133.
^ Cox, Michael, ed. (2004). The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860634-6.
^ Watson, J. R. (1997). The English Hymn: A Critical and Historical Study. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 205–229. ISBN 0198267622.

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

1707–1800

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