What else happened in 1758

Admiral Lord Nelson was born in 1758 and died in 1805 - but what else was happening during those years?

Here are some of the things that were going on in Britain and elsewhere in the world.

YEAR	EVENTS
1758	Halley's Comet appears in the year of Nelson's birth. The comet appears on a 75 - 76 year cycle and is names after Edmund Halley, the astronomer who identified it and calculated its orbits.
1759	William Wiberforce (1759 - 1833) is born. He enters parliament in 1780 and is instrumental in abolishing slavery. The first British canal boat is built by James Brindley to carry coal form the Duke of Bridgewater's mines at Worsley 10k (6.2 miles) to the factories and ironworks of Manchester.
1760	King George ll dies. (Born 1683). He has ruled since 1727. King George lll takes the throne. John Michell, an English geologist, publishes his work on earthquakes. He asserts they are caused by high-pressure underground steam.
1761	Franz Joseph Haydn enters the service of Prince Pal Antal Esterhazy. Nelson meets Haydn at Esterhazy Castle in 1800 whilst on an overland journey home. English Industrialist Robert Hinchcliffe produces the first steel scissors. France: J B Delaborde invents the first electrical musical instrument, an electric harpsichord. John Harrison invents the first practical marine chronometer, an instrument for keeping accurate time during sea voyages. He has been working on his project since 1728. Emma Hamilton (1761 - 1815), formerly Amy Lyon is born. She later becomes mistress to Nelson. 5 year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart begins composing music.
1762	Russia: Sophie Auguste von Anhalt Zerbst, widow of Peter ll takes the throne as Catherine the Great. She reigns until 1796.
1763	The end of the Anglo-French war in North America. This has been going on since 1754. John Harrison's chronometer is officially recognised as being reliable enough to be used at sea for calculating longitude - a feat for which he eventually wins a £20,000 government prize.
1764	King Stanislas Poniatowske starts his reign as the last king of Poland.
1765	The 'spinning jenny' is invented by James Hargreaves and mechanises the production of cloth using just one person's labour at each machine. America: The first medical school in the colonies is opened at the College of Philadelphia.
1766	The Nautical Almanac is published by the English Astronomer Nevil Maskelyne. It proves to be an invaluable aid for mariners. William Pitt the Elder takes office as Prime Minister until 1768 and helps make Britain strong overseas. British scientist Henry Cavendish demonstrates hydrogen as an 'inflammable air'.
1767	British explorer Samuel Wallis discovers Tahiti. Other ships in his expedition find Pitcairn and some of the Solomons - previously discovered by Alvarode Mendana
1768	James Cook sets out on his first voyage to the South Pacific. He surveys islands of New Zealand, discovers The Great Barrier Reef and charts more than 6437 kilometres (4000 miles) of coastline. The word 'tattoo', from Polynesia, is introduced to the English language.
1769	English inventor Richard Arkwright patents a steam powered rotary engine spinning machine. By 1770 cotton mills use steam power extensively. James Watts patents his steam engine based on a separate chamber for condensation of steam and a double acting piston moved in both directions by the steam. First steam powered car is built by Frenchman Nicolas Joseph Cugnot. (1725 - 1805) Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola discovers San Francisco Bay, not from the sea but whilst on an overland expedition.
1770	The Spanish envoy of Peru sends an expedition and the Spanish rediscover Easter Island. (Easter Island was originally discovered by Dutchman Adan Jacob Roggeveen in 1722 although he only stayed a single day.) Ludvig van Beethoven, German composer and pianist is born.
1771	William Smellie, a Scottish Natural Historian, completes publication of the first Encyclopedia Britannica in three volumes in Edinburgh. Richard Arkwright opens his first water-powered cotton mill in Cromford, Derbyshire.
1772	James Cook sets out on his second voyage in search of the Southern Continent. He crosses the Antarctic Circle in 1773. Carl Wilhelm Scheele, a Swedish chemist, discovers Oxygen. Joseph Priestly gets the credit for it as he gets the facts into print first.
1773	America: The Boston Tea Party - colonists dress as native Indians and rebel against British taxes by throwing consignments of tea overboard into the waters at Boston Harbour.
1774	America: Boston Harbour shut by the British Parliament - they demand restitution be made to The East India Company for the tea lost in the harbour waters.
1775	America: The first shots are fired in the American Revolution against Britain. Industrialist Matthew Bolton works with James Watts between 1775 - 1800 to apply the power of the steam engine to mining and other industrial operations.
1776	James Cook sets out on his third voyage searching for the North West passage - he does not succeed in his mission and dies in Hawaii in 1779
1777	Lavoisier shows air is made up of a mixture of gases and that Oxygen must be present to allow combustion (burning) and rusting to take place.
1778	France is allied with American rebels in the American Revolution against Britain. James Watts starts work on first office copier - this work goes on until 1780.
1779	The Ironbridge at Coalbrookdale is completed by Abraham Derby lll. Its 30m (100 feet) span is the first major structural application of iron. Samuel Crompton invents the 'Spinning Mule' - a machine which mimics hand movements in spinning and so large scale production of thread and yarn is possible.
1779	Napoleon Bonaparte joins the military school of Brienne in France.
1780	The first Sunday school is founded in Gloucester, England by Robert Raikes. Abbe de l'Epee and Abbe Sicard develop sign language (one handed alphabet) - still in use in the US today.
1781	William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus and recognises start systems beyond our own galaxy. America: The end of the American Revolution. Britain loses its American Colonies - the colonists have been struggling to gain their independence for eight years.
1782	David Tyrit, a navy office spy, is executed on Southsea Common, in Portsmouth UK. HMS Royal George sinks with all lives lost off Spithead, Portsmouth UK.
1783	The French Montgolfier brothers take the first untethered balloon flight. The balloon is a large linen bag inflated with hot air. English manufacturer Henry Cort invents a method for production of rolled steel bars. William Pitt the Younger takes office as Prime Minister until 1801.
1784	English manufacturer Henry Cort patents his process for converting pig-iron to wrought iron. Mail coaches replace postboys on horses to carry messages across the country.
1785	'Dissected Puzzles' widely used for both teaching and recreation, later becoming known as the familiar 'Jigsaw Puzzle'. Originally in the form of dissected maps used to teach geography, they later cover subjects such as history, alphabets, botany and zoology. American Oliver Evans (1775 - 1819) builds an automatic flour mill using lifts (elevators) and conveyor belts to move grain.
1786	Capt Phillip Arthur is assigned the task of founding a British convict settlement in New South Wales.
1787	Capt Phillip Arthur sets sail with 11 convict ships bound for New South Wales. Marylebone Cricket Club founds its headquarters at Lords Cricket Ground.
1788	Capt Phillip Arthur arrives in Botany Bay with the first fleet of British convicts. He reaches Port Jackson on 26th January. Port Jackson is later re-named Sydney.
1789	The French Revolutions starts. In Versailles, France, some 8000 women march to demand more affordable bread to feed their families. Marie Antionette's famous quote "Let them eat cake" adds fuel to the fire for Revolution. After a mutiny on his ship Bounty, William Bligh is set adrift in an open boat with some of his loyal crew. They have little food and water and no charts. They drift for nearly seven weeks from near Tonga to Timor.
1790	Caribbean slaves rebel against the government of Haiti, the French-held western part of the Island of Hispaniola. American engineer Oliver Evans invents the first successful high-pressure steam engine.
1791	France: King Louis XVl of France attempts to escape from Paris but is recaptured. India: Bangalore is besieged by Cornwallis and is taken by storm on 21st March.
1792	France: King Louis XVl's death sentence is carried by a majority of one in voting of 361 votes for and 360 against.
1793	France: Both King Louis XVl and Marie Antionette are guillotined.
1794	Frenchman Claude Chappe invents Semaphore to communicate by using signalling arms that pivot on a post.
1795	Food preservation: Frenchman Nicolas Appart preserves food in airtight jars.
1796	Edward Jenner, an English physician, introduces the technique of vaccination against smallpox, one of the most feared diseases of the time. The first person to be inoculated is 8 year old James Phipps.
1797	Andre-Jacques Garnerin makes the first sky-dive from a balloon at a height of 975m (3200 feet). Henry Maudsley (1771 - 1831) invents one of the first precision lathes made of metal.
1798	English Poets Wordworth and Coleridge publish 'Lyrical Ballads' - considered to be the single most important collection of poems and essays in the English Language.
1799	France: The French Revolution ends and Napoleon takes power. America: President George Washington (born 1732), the great grandson of an English settler, dies.
1800	Italy: Alessandra Volta, an Italian physicist, invents the voltaic pile - the first battery, utilising zinc and copper discs. Napoleon enters Northern Italy in Marengo, one of the major battles of the Napoleonic Ward
1801	English navigator Matthew Flinders departs on his second voyage to Australia. He circumnavigates and charts much of the coastline. Guiseppe Piazza discovers Ceres, the first known asteroid. The Union Jack - the British Flag as we now know it is first used following The Act of Union between Britain and Ireland. The flag now includes the crosses of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
1802	'Health and Morals Act' passed by parliament in an attempt to stop the exploitation of young children in the workplace, especially those from pauper families who were placed in apprenticeship in cotton mills. (The Act was not a great success as it was not enforceable under law)
1803	English mechanical engineer Richard Trevithick build the first steam powered locomotive - this runs on the road, not on rails.
1804	French engineer Joseph-Marie Jacquard begins to work on his plans for a loom that operates on punched cards to produce elaborate patterns in woven fabric. His invention, named The Jacquard Loom, is finished in 1805. William Pitt the Younger again takes office as Prime Minister until 1806. English mechanical engineer Richard Trevithick builds the first locomotive to run on rails.
1805	English potter James Spode ll makes his fine porcelain strong and chip-resistant by adding calcined bone, thus creating bone china. Napoleon defeats the Russian and Austrian armies at Austerlitz.