1705 in England explained

Events from the year 1705 in England.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Anne

Events

• 16 April – Isaac Newton knighted by Queen Anne.^[1]
• May
  • General election results in no clear majority for either political faction in Parliament.^[2]
  • The Twelfth Siege of Gibraltar ends with the defending Confederate forces (including the English) retaining control of the town.
• 25 September – Queen Anne appoints commissioners to negotiate political union with Scotland.^[2]
• 15 October – War of the Spanish Succession: Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough leads an English naval force in the capture of Barcelona.^[3]
• 30 October – John Vanbrugh's play The Confederacy (adapted from the French) is first performed at his new London playhouse, The Queen's Theatre in Haymarket.^{[4] [5]}
• 27 December – John Vanbrugh's play The Mistake (adapted from the French) is first performed at his new London playhouse, The Queen's Theatre in Haymarket.^[5]
• December – the Sophia Naturalization Act is passed by Parliament, which naturalizes Sophia of Hanover (next in succession to the British throne) and the "issue of her body" as British subjects.

Undated

• Construction begins on Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire designed by John Vanbrugh for the Duke of Marlborough.^[3] It is completed in 1724.
• Edmond Halley publicly predicts the periodicity of Halley's Comet and computes its expected path of return in 1757.^[6]

Births

• 21 February – Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, naval officer (died 1781)
• 11 April – William Cookworthy, chemist (died 1780)
• 23 July – Francis Blomefield, topographer (died 1752)
• 30 August – David Hartley, philosopher (died 1757)
• 21 September (bapt.) – Dick Turpin, thief and highwayman (hanged 1739)
• 28 September – Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, statesman (died 1774)
• 23 November – Thomas Birch, historian (died 1766)
• Undated – Bay Bolton, racehorse (died 1736)

Deaths

• 17 January – John Ray, naturalist (born 1627)
• 6 April – Sir William Lowther, 1st Baronet, of Marske, landowner and Member of Parliament (born 1676)
• 12 July – Titus Oates, conspirator (born 1649)

Notes and References

1. Book: Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 0-14-102715-0. 2006.
2. Book: Palmer, Alan. Palmer. Veronica. 1992. The Chronology of British History. Century Ltd. London. 204–205. 0-7126-5616-2.
3. Book: Williams, Hywel. Cassell's Chronology of World History. registration. London. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2005. 0-304-35730-8.
4. Web site: Britain Unlimited. Who was John Vanbrugh?. 15 January 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101214003856/http://britainunlimited.com/Biogs/Vanbrugh.htm. 14 December 2010 .
5. Book: McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama. 2nd.
6. Book: Halley, Edmond. Synopsis Astronomia Cometicae.