Events from the year 1690 in England.

Incumbents

• Monarchs – William III and Mary II
• Parliament – Convention of 1689 (until 6 February), 2nd of William and Mary (starting 20 March)

Events

• 7 January – the first recorded full peal is rung, at St Sepulchre-without-Newgate in the City of London, marking a new era in change ringing.
• March – London, Quo Warranto Judgment Reversed Act 1689 ("An Act for Reversing the Judgment in a Quo Warranto against the City of London and for Restoreing the City of London to its antient Rights and Privileges") passed by Parliament.^[1]
• 20 May – the Act of Grace passed, forgiving followers of the deposed James II.
• 30 June – War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Beachy Head: French naval victory over the English and Dutch.^[2][3]
• 1 July (O.S.) – Battle of the Boyne in Ireland: William III defeats the deposed James II who returns to exile in France.^[4][5]
• 25 July – War of the Grand Alliance: French raiders burn Teignmouth in Devon.^[3]
• 24 August – in India, Sutanuti – which later becomes Kolkata – is founded by Job Charnock of the English East India Company.^[5]
• December – earliest recorded sighting of the planet Uranus, by John Flamsteed, who mistakenly catalogues it as the star 34 Tauri.
• 10 December – playwright Henry Nevil Payne is tortured for his role in the Montgomery Plot to restore James II to the throne, the last time a political prisoner is subjected to torture in Britain.
• Quakers John Freame and Thomas Gould form a partnership as bankers in the City of London, origin of Barclays.
• Probable date – planting of Hampton Court Maze.

Publications

• An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke^[5] (dated this year but published in 1689).
• Political Arithmetic by William Petty.^[5]

Births

• 3 February – Richard Rawlinson, minister and antiquarian (died 1755)
• 12 March – George Lee, 2nd Earl of Lichfield (died 1742)
• 22 April
  • John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, statesman (died 1763)
  • (baptised) – Robert Raikes the Elder, printer (died 1757)
• 29 October – Martin Folkes, English antiquarian (died 1754)
• 1 December – Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor (died 1764)
• 2 December – Robert Shafto, Member of Parliament (died 1729)
• date unknown
  • Charles Bridgeman, garden designer (died 1738)
  • Hester Santlow, dancer and actress (died 1773)

Deaths

• 4 February – Sir John Child, 1st Baronet, governor of Bombay (year of birth unknown)
• 7 February – Sir William Morice, 1st Baronet, Royalist statesman (born c.1628)
• March – Sir Philip Parker, 1st Baronet, Member of Parliament (born c. 1625)
• 21 May – John Eliot, Puritan missionary to Native Americans, died in Massachusetts Bay Colony (born 1604)
• 12 July – George Walker, soldier, killed in action at the Battle of the Boyne (born (1645)
• 9 October – Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton, illegitimate son of King Charles II, military commander, died of wounds received at Siege of Cork (born 1663)
• 15 October – Thomas and Ann Rogers, counterfeiters, executed
• By 10 December – Sir Richard Willis, 1st Baronet, Royalist double agent (born 1614)
• 15 December – Sir Thomas Allen, 1st Baronet, Member of Parliament (born c. 1633)

References