1726

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1726 (MDCCXXVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (dominical letter F) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Saturday (dominical letter B) of the Julian calendar, the 1726th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 726th year of the 2nd millennium, the 26th year of the 18th century, and the 7th year of the 1720s decade. As of the start of 1726, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1918.

Events

January–June

• January 21 – The Conventicle Act is adopted in Sweden.
• February 8 – Supreme Privy Council is established in Russia
• April 15 – Isaac Newton tells William Stukeley the story of how he developed his theory of gravity.
• May 1 – Voltaire begins exile in England.

July–December

• July 11 – André-Hercule Cardinal de Fleury, recalled from exile by King Louis XV of France, banishes Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, and Madame de Prie from court.
• August 7 – Pirate Nicholas Brown captured near Xtabi, Jamaica
• October 26 – Jonathan Swift's satirical novel Gulliver's Travels is first published (anonymously) in London; it sells out within a week.
• November – Mary Toft allegedly gives birth to 16 rabbits in England; the story is later revealed to be a hoax.
• December 24 – The city of Montevideo is founded by the Spaniards.

Date unknown

Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift

• The Supreme Privy Council is established in Imperial Russia.
• The Gujin Tushu Jicheng, an immense Chinese encyclopedia, is printed using copper-based movable type printing.
• Muhammad bin Saud becomes head of the House of Saud.
• The remaining ruins of Liverpool Castle in England are finally demolished.

Births

• January 14 – Jacques-Donatien Le Ray, French supporter of the American Revolution (d. 1803)
• January 17 – Hugh Mercer, brigadier general in the Continental Army and a close friend to George Washington (d. 1777)
• February 7 – Margaret Fownes-Luttrell, British painter (d. 1766)
• March 8 – Richard Howe, British admiral (d. 1799)
• April 5 – Benjamin Harrison V, signer of the American Declaration of Independence (d. 1791)
• April 8 – Lewis Morris, American landowner and developer, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (d. 1798)
• April 12 – Charles Burney, English music historian (d. 1814)
• April 20 – Joseph de Ferraris, Austrian cartographer of the Austrian Netherlands (d. 1814)
• May 12 – Alexander Hood, British naval officer (d. 1814)
• June 3 – James Hutton, Scottish geologist (d. 1797)
• June 14 – Thomas Pennant, Welsh naturalist (d. 1798)
• June 20 – Louise Henriette of Bourbon, Duchess of Orléans, mother of Philippe Égalité (d. 1759)
• July 30 – William Jones (1726–1800), (d. 1800)
• August 7 – James Bowdoin, American Revolutionary leader and politician (d. 1790)
• August 9 – Francesco Cetti, Italian Jesuit scientist (d. 1778)
• September 1 – François-André Danican Philidor, French composer and chess player (d. 1795)
• September 26 – John H. D. Anderson, Scottish scientist (d. 1796)
• September 26 – Angelo Maria Bandini, Italian librarian (d. 1803)
• October 16 – Daniel Chodowiecki, Polish painter (d. 1801)
• December 4 – Lord Stirling, American Brigadier-General during the American Revolutionary War (d. 1783)
• date unknown
  • Jean-Jacques Blaise d'Abbadie, Director-general of the Colony of Louisiana (d. 1765)
  • Lê Quý Đôn, Vietnamese philosopher, poet, encyclopedist, and government official (d. 1784)
  • Cyprian Howe, Colonel in the American Revolutionary War (d. 1806)
  • Katsukawa Shunshō, Japanese woodblock artist (d. 1792)
  • Jedediah Strutt, English businessman (d. 1797)
  • Lady Anne Monson, English botanist (d. 1776)

Deaths

• January 2 – Domenico Zipoli, Italian composer (b. 1688)
• January 25 – Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (b. 1675)
• February 26 – Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1662)
• March 5 – Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, English politician
• March 26 – John Vanbrugh, English architect and dramatist (b. 1664)
• April 26 – Jeremy Collier, English theatre critic, non-juror bishop and theologian (b. 1650)
• April 28 – Thomas Pitt, British Governor of Madras (b. 1653)
• May 10 – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier (b. 1670)
• June 18 – Michel Richard Delalande, French organist and composer (b. 1657)
• July 8 – John Ker, Scottish spy (b. 1673)
• July 22 – Hugh Drysdale, British Colonial Governor of Virginia
• July 31 – Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1695)
• November 23 – Sophia Dorothea of Celle, queen of George I of Great Britain (b. 1666)
• December 2 – Samuel Penhallow, American colonist and historian (b. 1665)

References