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Timeline of London facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The following is a timeline of the history of London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom.

Prehistory

  • 120,000 BC – Elephants and hippopotami are roaming on the site of Trafalgar Square.
  • 6000 BC – Hunter-gatherers are on the site of Heathrow Terminal 5.
  • 4000 BC – Mesolithic timber structure exists on the River Thames foreshore, south of the site of Vauxhall Bridge.
  • 3800 BC – Stanwell Cursus is constructed.
  • 2300–1500 BC – Possible community on Chiswick Eyot in the Thames.
  • 1500 BC – A Bronze Age bridge exists from the foreshore north of Vauxhall Bridge. This bridge either crosses the Thames, or goes to a subsequently lost island in the river.
  • 300–1 BC – An Iron Age oppidum in Woolwich, which is possibly London's first port, in the late-Roman period reused as a fort.

Early history to the 10th century

Main pages: Londinium and Anglo-Saxon London


  • 47 AD – Original settlement of Londinium founded by the Romans.
  • 50
  • 57 – 8 January: The earliest known handwritten document in the UK is created in London, a financial record in one of the Roman 'Bloomberg tablets' found during 2010–13 on the site of Londinium. Another dated to 65/70-80 AD gives the earliest known written record of the name of Londinium.
  • 60 or 61 – Londinium is sacked by forces of Boudica.
  • 122 – Construction of a forum in Londinium is completed; Emperor Hadrian visits. There is a major fire in the city at about this time.
  • c. 190–225 – The London Wall is constructed.
  • During 3rd century - London's population is around 50,000 due to the influence of its major port.
  • c. 214 – London becomes the capital of the province of Britannia Inferior.
  • c. 240 – The London Mithraeum is built.
  • c. 250 – Coasting barge "Blackfriars I" sinks in the Thames at Blackfriars.
  • 255 – Work begins on a riverside wall in London.
  • 296 – Constantius Chlorus occupies Londinium, saving it from attack by mercenary Franks.
  • 368 – The city is known as Augusta by this date, indicating that it is a Roman provincial capital.
  • 490 – Saxons are in power, and the Roman city is largely abandoned.
  • By early 7th century – Settlement at Lundenwic (modern-day Aldwych).
  • c. 604 – Mellitus is the first Bishop of London in the modern succession to be consecrated.
  • 650 – A market is active.
  • 675
    • An early fire of London destroys the wooden Anglo-Saxon cathedral, which is rebuilt in stone over the following decade.
    • The Church of All Hallows-by-the-Tower is founded in the City by Barking Abbey.
  • By 757 – London has come under the control of Æthelbald of Mercia and passes to Offa, who has a mint here.
  • 798 – An early fire of London takes place.
  • 838 – Kingston upon Thames is first mentioned.
  • 842 – London is raided by Vikings with "great slaughter"; they besiege it in 851.
  • 871 – Autumn: Danes take up winter quarters in Mercian London.
  • 886
  • 893 – Spring: Edward, son of Alfred the Great, forces invading Danish Vikings to take refuge on Thorney Island.
  • 911 – Edward the Elder, King of Wessex, transfers London from Mercia to Wessex.
  • 918 – Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders and daughter of King Alfred, donates Kentish lands, including Lewisham, Greenwich and Woolwich, to St. Peter's Abbey in Ghent.
  • 925 – 4 September: Coronation of Æthelstan as King of Wessex at Kingston upon Thames.
  • 978 – The coronation of Æthelred as King of the English takes place in Kingston upon Thames.
  • 982 – An early fire of London takes place.
  • 989 – An early fire of London burns from Aldgate to Ludgate.

The 11th to 15th centuries

Main page: Norman and Medieval London
  • 1009 – August: Vikings attack London.
  • 1014?
  • 1016 – May: Battle of Brentford: King Edmund Ironside defeats Cnut the Great, who then besieges London.
  • 1065 – 28 December: Westminster Abbey is consecrated.
  • 1066
  • Around 1078 – The construction of the White Tower (Tower of London) begins, and it is probably largely completed by 1088.
  • 1087 – An early fire of London destroys much of the city, including the St Paul's Cathedral.
  • 1091 – 23 October: The London tornado of 1091 destroys the wooden London Bridge and severely damages the church of St Mary-le-Bow and other buildings.
  • 1099 – Westminster Hall is built.
  • 1100
  • 1106 – Southwark Priory is refounded by the Augustinians.
  • 1109 – Kingston upon Thames is first chartered.
  • 1114 – Merton Priory is established.
  • 1123 – St Bartholomew's Hospital, St Bartholomew-the-Great priory and Smithfield meat market are established.
  • 1127 – A royal charter creates the Liberty of the Clink in the Borough of Southwark.
  • 1133 – A royal charter establishes the first annual Bartholomew Fair at Smithfield, which is later to become England's largest cloth fair.
  • 1135 – 26 May (Pentecost): The Great Fire of 1135 destroys the wooden London Bridge and seriously damages the St Paul's Cathedral.
  • 1141 – July: The Anarchy: Matilda I of Boulogne, wife of the imprisoned King Stephen, recaptures London.
  • By 1144 – Winchester Palace is completed in Southwark.
  • 1147 – The Royal Hospital and Collegiate Church of St Katharine by the Tower is founded by Queen Matilda.
  • 1155 – The Worshipful Company of Weavers, which was established by 1130, is chartered.
  • 1163 – The new wooden London Bridge is built, with the construction of the first stone-built structure beginning in 1176.
  • 1180 – The Guild of Pepperers, which is the predecessor of the Worshipful Company of Grocers and the Apothecaries, is founded.
  • 1185 – 10 February: Temple Church is consecrated.
  • 1189
    • 3 September: The coronation of Richard I takes place in Westminster Abbey. Rising against Jews in London.
    • Henry Fitz-Ailwin de Londonestone becomes first mayor of London.
    • A fair is active.
  • 1196 – In the Spring, a popular uprising of the poor against the rich is led by William Fitz Osbert, who is hanged after being smoked out of his refuge in the tower of St Mary-le-Bow.
  • 1199 - King John reinforces the city's self-government.
  • c. 1200 – The royal treasury is transferred to Westminster from Winchester.
  • 1205 – The January is exceptionally cold.
  • 1209 – The rebuilding of the stone London Bridge is completed.
  • 1210 – Around November, 3 "leopards" (probably lions) are given to Henry III of England by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, making them the first creatures in the menagerie at the Tower of London.
  • 1212 – 10 July: The Great Fire of 1212 takes place in Southwark and in houses on London Bridge, with fatalities, and so thatched roofs are prohibited in the City as a consequence.
  • 1215
    • 17 May: Rebellious barons occupy London.
    • 1215 - From this year, the city can elect a different mayor every year.
  • 1216 – 21 May: During the First Barons' War, Louis, Count of Artois invades England in support of the barons, landing in Thanet. He enters London without opposition and is proclaimed, but not crowned, King of England at the St Paul's Cathedral.
  • c. 1219 – The first, timber Kingston Bridge is completed.
  • 1232 – The Domus Conversorum ("House of the Converts"), a building and institution in London for Jewish converts to Christianity, is established by Henry III.
  • 1234 – 2 December: A royal decree prohibits institutes of legal education within the City.
  • 1235 – Famine in England; 20,000 people die in London.
  • 1236 – Many people are killed in floods in Woolwich.
  • 1237 – The Office of Chamberlain of London and status of Freedom of the City of London are both first recorded.
  • 1240 – The Old St Paul's Cathedral is consecrated.
  • 1241 – The White Friars' monastery is founded.
  • 1245 – Savoy Palace is built. In 1246, the Liberty of the Savoy is created.
  • 1247
    • Bethlem Royal Hospital is founded as the Priory of the New Order of St Mary of Bethlem.
    • Romford Market is chartered as a sheep market.
  • 1249 – The Crutched Friars settle in London.
  • 1253 – The Austin Friars monastery is founded.
  • 1255 – An elephant joins the royal menageries at the Tower of London.
  • 1257
    • Around September, the 1257 Samalas eruption takes place, where the volcano erupts on Lombok Island in Indonesia, and the resultant climatic changes combine with a second successive poor grain harvest this summer in Britain to produce famine. This kills an estimated 17,000 people in Britain, of which 15,000 deaths are in London).
    • The Brothers of Penitence (Fratres Saccati, 'Brothers of the Sack') first settle in England, in London.
  • 1262 – The first church of St Mary Abbots in Kensington is founded.
  • 1263 – 16 July: Rebels occupy London.
  • 1264 – Around April, the Targeting of Jews during the conflict with the Barons takes place, where one of Simon de Montfort's followers, John Fitz John, leads a massacre of Jews in London.
  • 1265 – Covent Garden market is established.
  • 1267 – 9 April: During the Second Barons' War, Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford occupies London. Simon de Montfort's supporters kill 500 Jews.
  • 1269 – 13 October: The rebuilt Westminster Abbey is consecrated. The tomb of Edward the Confessor is relocated to behind the high altar.
  • 1271 – The tower of St Mary-le-Bow collapses.
  • 1272 – The Worshipful Company of Cordwainers and Worshipful Company of Curriers are granted rights to regulate the leather trade in the City, and the Fishmongers Company is chartered.
  • 1282 – The Stocks Market is established.
  • By 1290 – St Etheldreda's Church is built, and after 1878, it will be the oldest Roman Catholic church building in London.
  • 1291–4 – Eleanor crosses erected across England to mark the route of the funeral procession at the end of 1290 of Edward I's Queen, Eleanor of Castile, to Westminster Abbey. In London they are erected at Westcheap and Charing Cross.
  • 1295 – The UK Parliament constituency of Southwark is established.
  • 1296 – Edward I brings the Stone of Scone from Scotland to Westminster Abbey, and it will be returned in 1996.
  • 1298 – The UK Parliament constituency of the City of London is established.
  • 1299 – A fire damages the Palace of Westminster.
  • During 14th century - London’s port becomes a European hub for the distribution of goods. This activity increases during the 15th century due to its relevant textile industry.
  • 1303 – Enfield Town market is chartered.
  • 1304 – The Recorder of London is appointed.
  • 1305 – 23 August: The Scottish rebel William Wallace is hanged, drawn and quartered at Smithfield following a trial for treason in Westminster Hall.
  • 1307 – The Tabard inn is established in Southwark.
  • 1308 – The Woolwich Ferry is first mentioned.
  • 1309 – The Thames freezes.
  • 1314
  • 1320 – Hanseatic League merchants establish the Steelyard, a Kontor, in Dowgate.
  • 1322 – The Armourers' Guild is instituted.
  • 1326 – 15 October: Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter and Lord High Treasurer, is murdered by the London mob.
  • 1327 – The Goldsmiths' Company, the Merchant Taylors' Company and the Skinners' Company are incorporated.
  • c. 1329 – Marshalsea prison is in operation in Southwark.
  • 1331 – The Butchers' Guild is granted the right to regulate the meat trade in the City.
  • 1344 – Clifford's Inn us founded.
  • c. 1345 – Durham House is built in Westminster.
  • 1348 – September–May 1349: The outbreak of the Black Death is at its peak.
  • 1354 – The title of Lord Mayor of London is first granted.
  • 1361 – The Company of Drapers is founded (it is chartered in 1364).
  • 1363
    • 15 July: The Company of Vintners is chartered.
    • The curfew bell being sounded at St Mary-le-Bow is first recorded.
  • 1365 – The Company of Plumbers is granted the right to regulate plumbers.
  • 1366 – The Jewel Tower of the Palace of Westminster is completed.
  • 1368 – The Company of Poulters is granted the right to regulate the sale of poultry and small game.
  • 1371 – The London Charterhouse is established.
  • 1377
  • 1378 – Staple Inn becomes one of the Inns of Chancery.
  • 1380 – Sir William Walworth, a member of the Fishmongers Guild, becomes Lord Mayor of London for the second time.
  • 1381 – The Peasants' Revolt takes place:
  • 1382 – 21 May: Shocks from an earthquake in Canterbury are felt as an 'Earthquake Synod', which is held in London.
  • 1388 – The Inner and Middle Temples are recorded as corporate bodies.
  • 1392 – King Richard II retakes control of London.
  • 1394 – The Mercers Company is incorporated, and the Salters Company is incorporated as the Guild of Corpus Christi.
  • 1395 – The Worshipful Company of Saddlers is incorporated.
  • 1397 – 6 June: Richard Whittington is nominated as mayor for the first of four terms. He arranges for the City to buy back its liberties from the Crown.
  • 1400 – During Lent, children give battle in London.
  • 1403 – The Stationers' Company is formed.
  • 1407
    • The Company of Merchant Adventurers of London is chartered.
    • There is Plague in London.
  • 1414 – 9 January: A Lollard rebellion in London is suppressed.
  • 1415
    • Syon Monastery is founded.
    • This is the approximate date that Moorgate is rebuilt.
  • 1416
    • The Guildhall is rebuilt.
    • The Worshipful Company of Ironmongers is chartered.
  • 1421 – Around 1 May: Whittington's Longhouse, which is a gender-segregated public toilet, opens in Cheapside.
  • 1422 – Lincoln's Inn is recorded as a corporate body.
  • 1425 – 30 October: Henry Beaufort, Lord Chancellor, tries to occupy London.
  • 1427 – Harmondsworth Great Barn is completed.
  • 1428 – The Company of Grocers is granted a royal charter and completes its hall.
  • 1430 – A tavern established in High Holborn, which in modern times becomes Henneky's Long Bar and the Cittie of Yorke.
  • 1433 – Greenwich Park is enclosed by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester.
  • 1434
    • The "Hopping Hall" tavern recorded in Whitehall, which in modern times becomes the Red Lion.
    • 23 November: The Thames freezes downstream of London Bridge.
  • 1437 – The Worshipful Company of Vintners is incorporated.
  • 1442 – The City of London School is established.
  • 1444 – 24 April: There is a serious fire at the Old St Paul's Cathedral.
  • 1448 – The Haberdashers Company is chartered.
  • 1450
    • July: The war tax rebellion is suppressed with ferocity.
    • September: Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York marches an army to London and attacks alleged traitors in the royal government.
  • 1452 – A Lord Mayor's barge is first recorded.
  • 1455 – 22 May: The Battle of St Albans takes place near London.
  • 1460
  • 1461 – The Barbers Company is incorporated.
  • 1462 – The Tallow Chandlers Company is incorporated.
  • 1463 – The Ironmongers Company is incorporated as the Ferrers.
  • 1466 – Crosby Hall is built in Bishopsgate by the wool merchant John Crosby (died 1476).
  • 1468 – 29 July: Hansa merchants are expelled from London as the Anglo-Hanseatic War breaks out with the Hanseatic League.
  • 1471
  • 1473 – St Anthony's Chapel and Lazar House, which is the first medical facility on the Whittington Hospital site in Upper Holloway, is built for those with leprosy.
  • 1474 – The Pewterers Company is incorporated.
  • 1475 – The construction of the new hall of Eltham Palace begins.
  • 1476 – September/December: William Caxton sets up the first printing press in England, in Westminster, where he produces his first full-length book on 18 November 1477.
  • 1477 – The Carpenters Company is chartered.
  • 1478 – The Canterbury Tales is published by William Caxton in Westminster.
  • 1480 – The Fullers' Company, which is a predecessor of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers, is chartered.
  • 1481 – A Royal charter is given to Kingston upon Thames, granting it borough status.
  • 1484
    • 2 March: A royal charter is granted to the College of Arms, which is the official English heraldic authority.
    • 10 April: An award by Sir Robert Billesdon, Lord Mayor of London, decides the order of precedence of the City livery companies, resolving a dispute between the Merchant Taylors and the Skinners by a compromise.
  • 1485
    • The Yeoman Warders of His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London id formed by the new king Henry VII.
    • This is the approximate date that Bromley Hall, which is the oldest surviving brick building in London, is built.
  • 1486
  • 1495 – Two centuries after its consecration, the rebuilt Westminster Abbey is completed.
  • 1497 – 17 June: Cornish rebels under Michael An Gof are soundly defeated by Henry VII at the Battle of Deptford Bridge.
Bishopsgate Hollar
Bishopsgate

16th century

Main page: Tudor London

17th century

Main page: Stuart London
  • 1600
  • 1601 – 25 February: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, is executed for treason for his part in a short-lived rebellion in the previous month against the Queen, making him the last person beheaded on Tower Green in the Tower of London, with the sword being wielded by Thomas Derrick.
  • 1603
    • 24 March: Elizabeth I dies at Richmond Palace and is succeeded on the throne of England by her cousin James VI of Scotland.
    • c. April: Outbreak of bubonic plague epidemic in which between 29,000 and 40,000 people die.
    • 28 April: The funeral of Elizabeth I takes place in Westminster Abbey.
    • 7 May: Crowds welcome James's arrival in London for his coronation as king of England in Westminster Abbey on 25 July. He subsequently orders the creation of St. James's Park.
  • 1604 – 15 March: The Royal Entry of King James into London takes place.
  • 1605
  • 1606 – 19 December: The Susan Constant sets out from the Thames leading the Virginia Company's fleet for the foundation of Jamestown, Virginia.
  • 1608
    • July–December: Plague in London, which recurs in the 2 following years.
    • The foundation of the Royal Blackheath Golf Club is claimed.
  • 1609 – The Lord Mayor's Show is revived.
  • 1611
    • Thomas Sutton founds Charterhouse School on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charterhouse Square, Smithfield.
    • The Worshipful Company of Plumbers is chartered.
  • 1612 – Hicks Hall is built.
  • 1613
  • 1614 – In October, the Hope Theatre opens in Southwark. On 31 October Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fayre: A Comedy debuts here.
  • c. 1615 – Clerkenwell Bridewell (prison) is in operation.
  • 1616
    • The Anchor Brewery is established by James Monger next to the Globe Theatre in Southwark. It will be the world's largest by the early 19th century and brew until the 1970s.
    • The engraved Visscher panorama of London is published.
  • 1616–35 – The Queen's House is built in Greenwich to a design by Inigo Jones.
  • 1617
    • 23 August: The first one-way streets are created in alleys near the Thames.
    • December: The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries is incorporated.
    • Aldersgate is rebuilt.
    • The Goldsmiths' Company's barge is built.
    • Approximate date: New Prison in operation.
  • 1618 – The Company of Adventurers of London Trading to the Ports of Africa is granted a monopoly on trade from Guinea.
  • 1619
  • 1620 – July: The Mayflower embarks from or near her home port of Rotherhithe with around 65 Pilgrims bound for Cape Cod in North America.
  • 1621
    • Between Spring and October: The Corante: or, Newes from Italy, Germany, Hungarie, Spaine and France, one of the first English language newspapers translated from the Dutch, circulates in London.
    • The Hackney coach is first recorded.
  • 1622
    • 6 January (probable date): The new Banqueting House, Whitehall, opens with a performance of Ben Jonson's The Masque of Augurs to a design by the building's architect, Inigo Jones.
    • 23 May: Nathaniel Butter begins publication of Newes from Most Parts of Christendom or Weekley Newes from Italy, Germany, Hungaria, Bohemia, the Palatinate, France and the Low Countries.
    • Boston Manor House is built by Dame Mary Reade.
  • 1623
  • 1624 – The Latymer School and Latymer Upper School are founded by the bequest of Edward Latymer.
  • 1625
    • Around August: Over 40,000 people are killed by the bubonic plague in London, and so the court and Parliament temporarily move to Oxford.
    • Queen's Chapel is completed in Westminster.
  • 1626 – 2 February: The coronation of Charles I of England takes place in Westminster Abbey.
  • 1629
    • May: The Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers is chartered.
    • Approximate date: Development of Lincoln's Inn Fields for housing begins.
  • 1630
    • The central square of Covent Garden is laid out, and a market begins to develop there.
    • Sion College is chartered as a college, guild of London parochial clergy, almshouse and library under the will of Thomas White, vicar of St Dunstan-in-the-West.
  • 1631
    • 31 January: The rebuilt St Katharine Cree church is consecrated by William Laud, Bishop of London.
    • 20 February: A fire breaks out in Westminster Hall, but it is put out before it can cause serious destruction.
    • 7 June: St Paul's, Hammersmith is consecrated as a chapel of ease by Laud.
    • The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers is established.
    • Tottenham Grammar School is re-endowed.
    • London's population reaches 130,163 residents.
  • 1632 – Forty Hall, Enfield is completed.
  • 1633
    • 13 February: Fire engines are used for the first time in England to control and extinguish a fire that breaks out on London Bridge, but not before 43 houses are destroyed.
    • St Paul's, Covent Garden, which was designed by Inigo Jones in 1631 overlooking his piazza, opens to worship, making it the first wholly new parish church built in London since the English Reformation.
  • 1635 – The first General Post Office opens to the public in Bishopsgate.
  • 1636 – Goldsmith's Hall is rebuilt.
  • 1636–37 – Plague in London.
  • 1637 – Hyde Park opens to the public in Westminster.
  • 1638 – The Distillers is granted a royal charter.
  • 1640 – 11 December: The Root and Branch petition is presented to Parliament.
  • 1642
  • 1642–43 – The Lines of Communication are constructed to defend the city.
  • 1647
  • 1648
    • 11 September: The Levellers' largest petition, "To The Right Honourable The Commons Of England" (The humble Petition of Thousands well-affected persons inhabiting the City of London, Westminster, the Borough of Sonthwark Hamblets, and places adjacent), is presented to the Long Parliament after amassing signatories including about a third of all Londoners (including women).
    • 6 December: Pride's Purge: Troops of the New Model Army under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride (and under the orders of General Ireton) arrest or exclude Presbyterian members of the Long Parliament who are not supporters of the Army's Grandees or Independents, creating the Rump Parliament.
  • 1649
  • Mid 17th century: London population reaches 500,000.
  • 1650 – 29 September: Henry Robinson opens his Office of Addresses and Encounters, a short-lived form of employment exchange, in Threadneedle Street.
  • 1652 – A coffee house is in business near Cornhill, opened by Pasqua Rosée.
  • 1654 – St Matthias Old Church in Poplar is completed.
  • 1656
    • May: First performance of The Siege of Rhodes, Part I, by Sir William Davenant takes place, making it the first English opera (under the guise of a recitative), in a private theatre at his home, Rutland House, in the City. This also includes the innovative use of painted backdrops and the appearance of England's first professional actress, Mrs. Coleman.
    • Winter: Lisle's Tennis Court built in Lincoln's Inn Fields for real tennis.
  • 1657
  • 1658
    • 10 March: New London, Connecticut is named.
    • The earliest surviving terrace houses in London are built on Newington Green.
  • 1660
  • 1661
    • 6 January: The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London, and George Monck's regiment defeats them.
    • 30 January: 4 deceased regicides of Charles I suffer posthumous execution at Tyburn; Oliver Cromwell's head, with the others', is raised above the Palace of Westminster Hall where it remains until the 1680s, later becoming a tourist attraction in private hands.
    • 23 April: The coronation of Charles II of England takes place in Westminster Abbey.
    • 28 June: Lisle's Tennis Court in Lincoln's Inn Fields opens as a playhouse.
    • September: Pall Mall is laid out as a thoroughfare in Westminster.
    • The diarist John Evelyn publishes his pamphlet Fumifugium, or, The inconveniencie of the aer and smoak of London dissipated together with some remedies humbly proposed by J.E. Esq. to His Sacred Majestie, making it the earliest discussion of the city's air pollution.
  • 1662
  • 1663
    • 7 May: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane opens.
    • The Olde Wine Shades is built as a merchant's house in Martin Lane.
    • Diarist John Evelyn obtains a lease of Sayes Court and begins to lay out the garden there.
  • 1664
    • Francis Child enters the London goldsmith's business which, as the private banking house of Child & Co., will still exist the 21st century.
    • The Russian ambassador to England donates the first pelicans to live in St. James's Park.
    • Eltham Lodge is completed by Hugh May for Sir John Shaw, 1st Baronet (created 15 April 1665).
    • The construction of Burlington House begins.
  • 1665
    • 6 March: The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society begins publication.
    • March: 15-year-old Nell Gwyn makes her first definitely recorded appearance as an actress on the London stage, having previously been a theatre orange-seller.
    • 12 April: The first recorded victim of the Great Plague of London dies. On 7 July the King and court leave London to avoid the plague, moving first to Salisbury, then to Oxford from 25 September to 1 February 1666, where in October Parliament convenes. The City begins use of Bunhill Fields as a burial ground for the victims. By the time the plague ends, over 70,000 people have died.
    • 13 June: The Worshipful Company of Poulters is granted a royal charter.
    • Thomas Firmin sets up a textile factory to provide work for the unemployed.
    • Approximate date: The Grecian Coffee House is established in Wapping.
  • 1666 – 2–5 September: Great Fire of London: A large fire which breaks out in the City in the house of baker Thomas Farriner on Pudding Lane destroys more than 13,000 buildings, including the Old St Paul's Cathedral, but only 6 people are known to have died. It then takes over 10 years to rebuild the City.
  • 1667
    • 8 February: The first part of the Rebuilding of London Act 1666, following last year's Great Fire of London, goes into effect as royal assent is given to the Fire of London Disputes Act 1666, which establishes the Fire Court. The Court, sitting at Clifford's Inn near Fleet Street, hears cases starting on February 27 and continuing until the end of 1668. The London Building Act enforces fireproof construction in the reconstruction of the City.
    • Hedges & Butler is established as wine merchants.
  • 1668
    • The Carmen's Company is established.
    • The Lamb and Flag, Covent Garden is built (although first definitely recorded as a public house – The Cooper's Arms – in 1772).
  • 1669
  • 1670
    • 21 January: The French-born gentleman highwayman Claude Duval, who was particularly active in Holloway, is hanged at Tyburn, and is thought to have been buried in St Paul's, Covent Garden.
    • 14 August: Quakers William Penn and William Mead preach in Gracechurch Street in the City, in defiance of the recently passed Conventicles Act 1670, and are arrested and tried but on 5 September the jury refuses to convict, leading to Bushel's Case.
    • The second Rebuilding Act is passed to raise the tax on coal to provide funds for rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral and other City churches destroyed in the Great Fire.
    • Leicester Square is laid out.
    • The Apothecaries' Hall and the Brewers Hall are built.
  • 1671
  • 1672
    • 25 January: The Theatre Royal in Bridges Street burns down, forcing the King's Company to relocate to the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre while the Theatre Royal is rebuilt in Drury Lane.
    • 30 December: The first commercial public concert series in Europe begins after it was organised by John Banister in Whitefriars near Fleet Street.
    • Ludgate, Moorgate, and Newgate are rebuilt, and the rebuilding of Temple Bar and the church of St Stephen's, Walbrook in the City begin to the designs of Christopher Wren.
    • The Worshipful Company of Paviors is granted a royal charter.
    • Richard Hoare becomes a partner in the London goldsmith's business which, as private banking house C. Hoare & Co., will survive through to the 21st century.
    • The Fulham Pottery is established by John Dwight, making it the earliest certainly known native stoneware manufacturer in England, and it will survive until the second half of the 20th century.
  • 1673
    • 22 January: The impostor Mary Carleton is hanged in Newgate Prison for multiple thefts and returning from penal transportation.
    • The rebuilding of St Mary-le-Bow church in Cheapside and Temple Bar gate across Fleet Street are completed to designs by Wren.
    • The Apothecaries' Garden is laid out in Chelsea.
    • Approximate date: Berkeley House, later known as Devonshire House, is completed in Piccadilly.
  • 1674
    • 26 March: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane reopens having been rebuilt after a fire in 1672.
    • 17 July: 2 skeletons of children are discovered at the White Tower (Tower of London) and believed at this time to be the remains of the Princes in the Tower, and they are subsequently buried in Westminster Abbey.
    • The Court house is rebuilt.
    • The Worshipful Company of Farriers is chartered.
  • 1675
  • 1676
  • 1677
  • 1678 – 17 October: The magistrate Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey is found murdered in Primrose Hill, and Titus Oates claims it as a proof of the fabricated "Popish Plot".
  • 1679
    • 17 November: An effigy of the Pope is burned after a large procession through the streets of London.
    • 27 November: The Duke of Monmouth enters London amid scenes of widespread celebration, having subdued the Scottish Covenanters.
    • 18 December: Rose Alley ambuscade: The writer John Dryden is set upon by 3 assailants, who are thought to have been instigated by the Earl of Rochester in a literary dispute.
    • The new churches of St Edmund, King and Martyr and St Stephen's, Walbrook are completed to designs by Wren.
    • Joseph Truman acquires the Black Eagle Brewery in Brick Lane to form Truman's Brewery.
    • Approximate date: First bagnio opens in London.
  • 1680
    • February: Rev. Ralph Davenant's will provides for foundation of the Davenant Foundation School for poor boys in Whitechapel.
    • 27 March: William Dockwra's London Penny Post mail service begins.
    • The York Buildings are built.
    • Approximate date: Jonathan's Coffee-House is in business.
  • 1681
  • 1682
    • 11 March: Work begins on construction of the Royal Hospital Chelsea to a design by Wren, and it will open to Chelsea pensioners in 1692.
    • 19 November: A fire in Wapping makes 1,500 people homeless.
    • Hungerford Market is built in Westminster.
  • 1683
    • 12 December: The River Thames frost fair begins, and it lasts for several months. The Chipperfield's Circus dynasty begins when James Chipperfield introduces performing animals to England at the fair in 1684.
    • The Churches of St Benet's, Paul's Wharf and St James Garlickhythe, which were rebuilt to designs by Wren, are completed.
    • Richard Sadler opens the first Sadler's Wells Theatre as a "Musick House".
    • The Friendly Society of London, which is an early fire insurance company, is in business.
  • 1684
  • 1685
    • 23 April: The coronation of the Catholic James II takes place in Westminster Abbey.
    • 29 September: Edward Hemming establishes the first organised street lighting in London, with oil lamps to be lit outside every 10th house on moonless winter nights.
    • 18–19 October: Louis XIV of France issues the Edict of Fontainebleau, which revokes the Edict of Nantes and deprives Huguenots of civil rights. Many flee to London where they establish a domestic silk weaving industry in Spitalfields and "French ordinaries" (restaurants) in Soho.
    • 23 October: Elizabeth Gaunt, burned at the stake at Tyburn for alleged complicity in the Rye House Plot, becomes the last woman executed for political treason in England.
    • Kensington Square laid out.
  • 1686
    • January: Montagu House, Bloomsbury is destroyed by fire when barely 6 years old.
    • 1 May: The annual May Fair opens on a new site at Shepherd Market.
    • St Andrew Holborn church, which was rebuilt to a design by Wren, is completed.
  • 1687
  • 1688
    • By July, the first definitely known performance of the Henry Purcell opera Dido and Aeneas takes place at Josias Priest's girls' school in Chelsea.
    • 18 December: Glorious Revolution: William of Orange enters London.
    • Old Palace Terrace is built in Richmond.
    • Over the next 5 years Lloyd's of London marine insurance market begins to form on the premises of Edward Lloyd (coffeehouse owner).
  • 1689 - On 13 February, William III and Mary II are proclaimed co-rulers of England in a ceremony at Guildhall, with their coronation taking place in Westminster Abbey on 11 April by the Bishop of London, Henry Compton. In May, work begins on remodelling Hampton Court Palace to the design of Sir Christopher Wren for them together with the Hampton Court Maze. Also this summer, the royal couple purchase Nottingham House and commission Wren to expand it to form Kensington Palace, and William commissions a new royal barge (shallop) for Mary.
  • 1690
    • 7 January: The first recorded full peal is rung at St Sepulchre-without-Newgate in the City, 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.
    • The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers establishes Aske's Hospital, comprising almshouses and a school at Hoxton, from the bequest of Robert Aske, origin of Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School and others.
    • This is the approximate date that the Great Synagogue of London is built for the Ashkenazi Jews.
  • 1691 – 9 April: A fire at the Palace of Whitehall destroys its Stone Gallery.
  • 1693
    • 27 February: The Ladies' Mercury, which is the first periodical specifically for women, begins publication but lasts only for four weeks.
    • The financier Richard Hoare relocates Hoare's Bank (founded 1672) from Cheapside to Fleet Street.
    • White's is established as "Mrs. White's Chocolate House" in Mayfair by Francesco Bianco.
  • 1694
    • February: The première of Thomas Southerne's play The Fatal Marriage takes place at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
    • 27 July: The Bank of England is established by royal charter.
    • 25 October: Queen Mary II founds the Royal Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich; first section completed 1705.
    • The new All Hallows Lombard Street church is completed to a design by Wren.
    • This is the approximate date that the development of Seven Dials begins.
  • 1695
    • May: The Flying-Post newspaper begins publication.
    • June?: The première of Purcell's opera The Indian Queen takes place.
    • Trinity Hospital on the Mile End Road is established as almshouses for "28 decay’d Masters & Commanders of Ships or the Widows of such" by Trinity House.
    • Hoxton House is established as a private lunatic asylum.
    • "Don Saltero's Coffee Shop" opens in Chelsea.
  • 1696
    • Queenhithe windmill is built.
    • The evening newspaper Dawk's News-Letter begins publication.
  • 1697 – 2 December: St Paul's Cathedral holds its first service after rebuilding to celebrate the Treaty of Ryswick.
  • 1698
    • 4 January: The Palace of Whitehall is destroyed by fire.
    • 11 January–21 April: Czar Peter I of Russia visits England as part of his Grand Embassy, making a particular study of shipbuilding at Deptford Dockyard.
    • In December, the Chalybeate well is given to the poor of Hampstead.
    • The widow Bourne sets up the business which becomes Berry Bros. & Rudd, and they will still be operating as wine merchants in the 21st century.
  • 1699
    • 10 May: Billingsgate Fish Market is sanctioned as a permanent institution by Act of Parliament.
    • The Howland Great Wet Dock opens as the first of what become the Surrey Commercial Docks.

18th century

Main page: 18th-century London

1700 to 1749

Bevis Marks Synagogue P6110044
Bevis Marks Synagogue
London's St Paul's Cathedral
The view of St Paul's Cathedral in August 2022 taken from the main road that passes it on the south side
  • c. 1700 – The Kit-Cat Club is established.
  • 1701
    • The Bevis Marks Synagogue is built.
    • The illustrated magazine Memoirs for the Curious begins publication.
  • 1702
  • 1703
  • 1704 – Aaron Hart becomes rabbi of the Great Synagogue of London and de facto the country's first chief rabbi.
  • 1705
    • March: The first of the principal buildings of Greenwich Hospital, the King Charles Court, which was designed by Christopher Wren, is completed.
    • 9 April: The Queen's Theatre in Haymarket is opened by John Vanbrugh and William Congreve.
    • There is recognition of the existence of paid able-bodied watchmen in the City.
  • 1706 – October:
    • Thomas Twining opens Twinings in the Strand as Britain's first known tea house, and it will still be in business into the 21st century.
    • The predecessors of food manufacturers Crosse & Blackwell set up business in London.
  • 1707
    • 17 December: Major breach of the Thames embankment in Dagenham.
    • The London Building Act is passed to prevent use of combustible façade materials in the City; subsequently extended to Westminster.
    • Fortnum & Mason is in business in Westminster.
  • 1708
  • 1709
    • 12 April: The Tatler magazine begins publication, and on 8 July, The Female Tatler follows.
    • 19 April: The Worshipful Company of Fan Makers is chartered.
    • 11 November: Henry Sacheverell preaches an incendiary sermon The Perils of False Brethren at St Paul's Cathedral, which leads to his impeachment by Parliament.
  • 1710
  • 1710–12: Roehampton House is built.
  • 1710–28: Church Road, Hampstead is built up.
  • 1711
    • 24 February: The première of Handel's Rinaldo takes place at the Queen's Theatre, Haymarket, making it the first Italian opera written for the London stage.
    • 1 March: The Spectator begins publication.
    • 25 December: The rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral is declared complete by Parliament.
    • Crown Court Church is established in Westminster.
    • Marlborough House, which had begun construction in 1709, is completed.
  • 1711–14 – The Hawkubites gang is at large.
  • 1712
    • Spring: The Mohocks gang is supposedly at large.
    • By October: The German composer George Frideric Handel settles in London, where he will remain until his death in 1759.
    • The Royal Hospital School is established by charter at the site of Greenwich Hospital.
  • 1713
  • 1714
  • 1715
    • 13 January: A major fire originating in an explosion in Thames Street destroys more than 100 houses and severely damages the Custom House, which requires its complete rebuilding, before being contained in Tower Street.
    • 3 May: A total solar eclipse is the last total eclipse visible in London for almost 900 years.
    • 1 August: The Watermen first compete in a rowing race on the Thames for the Doggett's Coat and Badge sponsored by the actor-manager Thomas Doggett.
    • Allen & Hanburys are established as pharmacists by Silvanus Bevan at Old Plough Court.
  • 1716
    • An accidental explosion at The Foundery in Moorfields kills the owner and 16 workers.
    • John Gay publishes the poem Trivia, or the Art of Walking the Streets of London.
  • 1717
    • 1 January: Count Carl Gyllenborg, the Swedish ambassador to the UK, is arrested in London over a plot to assist the Pretender James Francis Edward Stuart.
    • 2 March: The dancer John Weaver performs in the first ballet in Britain, which is shown at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, The Loves of Mars and Venus.
    • 24 June: The Grand Lodge of London and Westminster, the first Freemasonic Grand Lodge (modern-day United Grand Lodge of England), is founded.
    • 17 July: George Frideric Handel's Water Music is performed on a barge on the Thames for King George I. In August, Handel becomes the house composer at Cannons.
    • September (Autumnal Equinox): The first known Druid revival ceremony is held by John Toland at Primrose Hill to found the Mother Grove, which is later to become the Ancient Order of Druids.
    • Thomas Fairchild, a nurseryman at Hoxton in the East End, becomes the first person to produce a successful scientific plant hybrid, Dianthus Caryophyllus barbatus, which is also known as the "Fairchild's Mule".
    • The Royal Brass Foundry is established at Woolwich Arsenal in a building designed by Sir John Vanbrugh.
  • 1719
    • February: A Royal Academy of Music is established as a company to perform operas under the direction of Handel.
    • Raine's Foundation School is established by Henry Raine in Wapping. It closes on 31 August 2020.
    • The Hellfire Club is founded.
    • The Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society is founded.
  • 1720
    • May: The first patient is admitted to the Westminster Public Infirmary, the predecessor of St George's Hospital.
    • 11 June: The marine insurers Royal Exchange and London Assurance companies are incorporated by the "Bubble Act".
    • 29 December: Haymarket Theatre opens.
  • 1721
  • 1722
    • March: Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year is published under the initials H.F., purporting to be an eyewitness account of the Great Plague of London in 1665.
    • The Bakers Hall is built.
    • Traffic on London Bridge is required to keep left.
  • 1722–23 – Ranger's House, Blackheath is probably constructed.
  • 1723 – 8 March: The Chelsea Waterworks Company receives a Royal Charter.
  • 1724
  • 1725
  • 1726
  • 1727 – 11 October: The coronation of George II of Great Britain takes place in Westminster Abbey.
  • 1728
  • 1729
  • 1730
  • 1731
    • 1 January: The Gentleman's Magazine begins publication.
    • 28 April: A fire at White's Chocolate House, which is near St. James's Palace, destroys the historic club and the paintings therein, but is kept from spreading by the fast response of firemen.
    • May: Round Pond completed in Kensington Gardens.
    • 23 October: A fire at Ashburnham House damages the nationally owned Cotton library, which is being housed here at the time.
  • 1732
  • 1732–37 – The first section of River Fleet is culverted.
  • 1733
    • 16 October: Devonshire House, the former Berkeley House in Piccadilly, is destroyed by a fire.
    • St Giles in the Fields church is rebuilt.
    • St George's Hospital opens at Hyde Park Corner, taken as the founding date of St George's Hospital Medical School.
  • 1734 – The Bank of England moves to its modern-day location in Threadneedle Street.
  • 1735
  • 1736
    • 19 February: The première of Handel's Alexander's Feast takes place at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.
    • 27 July: Riots in east London protesting at Irish immigrants providing cheap labour.
    • Parliament passes the Gin Act 1736 in an attempt to curb the Gin Craze.
  • 1737
    • 2 March: Samuel Johnson and his former pupil David Garrick leave Lichfield to seek their fortunes in London.
    • 21 June: The Theatrical Licensing Act is passed, introducing censorship to the London stage, so plays now require approval before production. The "legitimate drama" is limited to the theatres at Drury Lane, Covent Garden and the Haymarket, and Edward Capell is appointed as the deputy-inspector of plays.
  • 1738
  • 1739
    • 16 January: The first performance of Handel's oratorio Saul takes place at The King's Theatre, Haymarket.
    • 29 January: The building of Westminster Bridge begins.
    • 4 April: The first performance of Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt takes place at The King's Theatre.
    • 17 October: The Foundling Hospital, established by Thomas Coram, is granted its royal charter. On 25 March 1741, the first children are admitted to its temporary premises in Hatton Garden.
    • 25 December: The Thames freezes.
    • The building of Oxford Street begins.
  • 1740
    • 23 September: The London Infirmary is established; it opens on 3 November in Moorfields.
    • The first Bow Street Magistrates' Court is presided over by Thomas de Veil.
    • Thomas Witherby establishes his stationery business in London, specializing in printing and publishing for the marine insurance industry. By the end of the first decade of the 21st century, it will claim to be the oldest independent publisher in the English speaking world as the Witherby Publishing Group.
    • This is the approximate date that Devonshire House is completed in Piccadilly and Booth's London dry gin is first produced.
  • 1741
  • 1742
    • 28 May: The first known British bagnio to offer a swimming pool opens in London.
    • 16 September: The construction of the Foundling Hospital starts; the first boys are admitted in 1745.
    • The Chelsea Water Works Company introduces a Newcomen atmospheric engine in Pimlico, making it the first economically successful steam pumping engine in London.
    • Samuel Whitbread forms a partnership to acquire breweries, foundation of the Whitbread hospitality business.
    • Wilton's restaurant begins life as an oyster stall in Haymarket.
  • 1743
    • 21 February: The première of Handel's oratorio Samson takes place at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.
    • The Gin Act 1743 attempts to increase taxation on gin, which provokes riots in London.
    • Ranelagh Gardens opens as pleasure grounds in Chelsea.
  • c. 1743–45 – The Chelsea porcelain factory is established.
  • 1744
  • 1745
  • 1746
    • 30 July: Francis Towneley is convicted of treason before being hanged, drawn and quartered at Kennington Common with fellow members of the Jacobite Manchester Regiment, and the heads of 2 of them become the last to be publicly displayed on Temple Bar.
    • The Shepherd Market development is completed.
    • The Carmen become a livery company.
    • Rocque's Map of London is published.
  • 1747
  • 1748
    • 28 March: A fire in the City causes over £1,000,000 worth of damage.
    • August: The Camberwell beauty butterfly is named after specimens found in Camberwell.
    • Henry Fielding organises the forerunner of the Bow Street Runners, starting off with 8 men.
    • The George and Vulture pub is built in the City.
  • 1749

1750 to 1799

Westminster Bridge by Joseph Farington, 1789
Westminster Bridge (1750), depicted by Joseph Farrington, 1789, with Westminster Hall and Westminster Abbey beyond
  • 1750
    • 8 February: An earthquake is felt in London.
    • 8 March: A second, more powerful earthquake is felt in London, making this the last to have an epicentre here.
    • 1 May: Handel begins the tradition of benefit performances of his oratorio Messiah at and for the Foundling Hospital.
    • 18 November: The first Westminster Bridge opens, making it the only fixed crossing of the Thames between London Bridge and Putney.
    • Berners Street is laid out in Westminster.
    • Whitbread acquire a porter brewery on Chiswell Street.
  • 1751
    • The Society of Antiquaries of London is incorporated.
    • St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics is founded.
  • 1752
  • 1753
  • 1755 – 15 April: Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language is published by the group of London booksellers, who commissioned it in June 1746, with Johnson and his assistants having worked on the project at his home, 17, Gough Square.
  • 1756
    • 25 June: The Marine Society is founded.
    • The first section of New Road opens.
  • 1757
    • 4 April: The Lord Mayor of London's State Coach is commissioned.
    • Simpson's Tavern, Cornhill is established.
  • 1758 – 11 April: A temporary wooden bridge over the Thames, which is erected while the centre stone span of London Bridge is under repair, burns down.
  • 1759
    • 15 January: The British Museum opens at Montagu House, Bloomsbury.
    • 4 June: The first Kew Bridge, a wooden toll bridge over the Thames, opens to the public, replacing a ferry.
    • August: Holbein Gate is demolished.
  • 1760
    • Hamleys toy shop is in business in High Holborn.
    • Berkeley Square is laid out.
    • Bishopsgate, Cripplegate, and Ludgate of the London Wall are demolished.
  • 1761
  • 1762
    • 1 January: Boodle's is established as a gentlemen's club run by William Almack.
    • January: The "Cock Lane ghost" appears.
    • 23 March: The first legitimately constituted Sandemanian congregation in England meet at Glover's Hall.
    • 22 May: The Royal family first takes up residence at Buckingham House.
    • The last remaining buildings are cleared from London Bridge.
    • Moorgate of the London Wall is demolished.
    • The German composer Johann Christian Bach arrives in London, where he will spend the remaining 20 years of his life.
  • 1763
  • 1764
    • February: Joshua Reynolds co-founds The Club (dining club) with Samuel Johnson.
    • March: Brooks's is established as a Whig Gentlemen's club.
    • 23 April: Mozart family grand tour: 8-year-old W. A. Mozart settles in London for a year, Here, he will write his first 3 symphonies.
    • December: Benjamin Franklin arrives in London to represent the American colonies following a previous visit in 1757.
    • Portman Square is laid out.
    • Horse Shoe Brewery is established at St Giles Circus for the production of porter.
    • Lloyd's Register of Ships begins publication.
  • 1765 – February: Almack's Assembly Rooms open in St James's.
  • 1766
    • May: The London Paving and Lighting Act is passed.
    • 5 December: James Christie holds the first sale at Christie's auction house.
    • Tattersalls is founded as a racehorse auction by Richard Tattersall at Hyde Park Corner.
    • John Gwynn's proposals London and Westminster Improved is published.
  • 1767 – Newgate is demolished, leaving Temple Bar as the last remaining City gate.
  • 1768
  • 1769
    • 25 April–27 May: The first Royal Academy summer exhibition is held.
    • 28 June: The Morning Chronicle newspaper begins publication.
    • 7 August: Hackney Cut opens.
    • September: The Spitalfield Riots by silk weavers attempting to maintain their pay rates culminate in arrests by soldiers and the killing of 2 weavers.
    • 19 November: The first Blackfriars Bridge opens.
    • The work on Syon House to the design of Robert Adam ceases.
    • Gordon's London dry gin first produced.
  • 1770
    • August: The Lady's Magazine begins publication.
    • 17 September: The Limehouse Cut opens.
    • The original Coal Exchange opens.
  • 1771
  • 1772
    • 2 November: The Morning Post newspaper begins publication.
    • The Adelphi Buildings terrace is completed in Westminster by Robert Adam and his brothers.
  • 1773
    • An informal Stock Exchange opens on Threadneedle Street.
    • Astley's Amphitheatre is founded on Westminster Bridge Road.
    • First London catering establishment to offer curry, Norrish Street Coffee House.
    • The original sundial column is removed from Seven Dials and acquired by the architect James Paine.
  • 1774
    • 17 April: The first avowedly Unitarian congregation at the Essex Street Chapel is founded by Theophilus Lindsey.
    • 2 May: The Society of Antiquaries of London open the coffin of King Edward I in Westminster Abbey and discover that his body has been perfectly preserved for 467 years.
    • 5 October–10 November: 1774 British general election: In Westminster, Ignatius Sancho becomes the first person of African origin eligible to vote in Britain.
    • The London Building Act ("Black Act") aims to standardise the quality and construction of buildings.
    • The residential development of Highbury Fields begins.
  • 1775–76 – Winter: An unusually deadly influenza epidemic kills nearly 40,000 people.
  • 1776
  • 1777
  • 1778
    • 1 November: Wesley's Chapel opens for worship on the City Road.
    • The second wooden Hampton Court Bridge built.
    • Joseph Bramah patents an improved form of the flush toilet, which he begins to manufacture.
    • Flint & Clark, the predecessor of Debenhams, begin trading as drapers; their successor will enter liquidation in 2020.
  • 1779
  • 1780
    • 2 June: An Anti-Catholic mob led by Lord George Gordon marches on Parliament leads to the outbreak of the Gordon Riots, in which the City banks are attacked.
    • 7 June: The Gordon Riots are ended by the intervention of troops. About 285 people are shot dead, with another 200 wounded and around 450 arrested, of whom around 25 will be executed.
    • The Finsbury Dispensary is founded.
    • The Middlesex Sessions House opens on Clerkenwell Green.
    • The original Craven Cottage is built by William Craven, 6th Baron Craven.
  • 1781 – July: Barclay Perkins & Co take over the Anchor Brewery in Southwark from Hester Thrale for the brewing of porter.
  • 1782
    • 10 October: Sarah Siddons makes a triumphant return to the Drury Lane Theatre in the title role of Garrick's adaptation of Thomas Southerne's Isabella, or, The Fatal Marriage.
    • 4 November: The Surrey Theatre opens as the Royal Circus and Equestrian Philharmonic Academy on Blackfriars Road.
    • First foot patrols in London.
    • The rebuilt Newgate Prison is completed.
  • 1783
  • 1784
    • c. April–August: William Roy sets out the baseline of the Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790) on Hounslow Heath.
    • 2 April: The construction of Severndroog Castle on Shooter's Hill begins.
    • 21 August: Joseph Bramah patents the Bramah lock which he then begins to manufacture.
    • 15 September: The Italian Vincenzo Lunardi makes the first hydrogen balloon flight in Britain, from Moorfields to South Mimms.
    • The development of Somers Town begins.
  • 1785
    • The London Hospital Medical College opens as England's first chartered medical school.
    • The New Spring Gardens is renamed Vauxhall Gardens.
  • 1787
  • 1788
    • 1 January: The first edition of The Times newspaper is published under this title after it was launched in 1785 as The Daily Universal Register.
    • Admiralty House is built on Whitehall.
    • The Revolution Society is formed.
    • The group that later becomes the Royal Philanthropic Society is formed to assist homeless children.
  • 1789
    • 4 May: The Boydell Shakespeare Gallery opens.
    • 22 September: The first stone Kew Bridge opens.
    • London plane trees (Platanus × acerifolia) are planted in Berkeley Square.
    • Rowney, which was established in 1783 as perfumers, enter the artists' supplies business.
  • 1790 – 23 June: The alleged London Monster arrested, and he later receives 2 years' imprisonment for 3 assaults.
  • 1791
    • 1 January: The Austrian composer Joseph Haydn arrives in England at the invitation of London resident impresario Johann Peter Salomon, where his concerts are huge successes. On 11 March, the first of his London symphonies, Symphony No. 96, is premièred at the Hanover Square Rooms. He visits again in 1794.
    • The first St James's, Spanish Place (Roman Catholic) is built as a chapel primarily to serve the Spanish Embassy.
    • The Camden Town development begins.
    • The Giltspur Street Compter (prison) built.
    • The Architect John Soane begins reconstruction of the Bank of England.
  • 1792
  • 1793
  • 1794
    • 12 March: The rebuilt Theatre Royal, Drury Lane opens.
    • 23 July: The Ratcliffe Fire destroys over 400 homes.
    • The construction of houses on the edge of Blackheath, which was designed by Michael Searles, begins with The Paragon (a crescent), South Row and Montpelier Row, and they will be completed in 1805.
    • Coldbath Fields Prison is rebuilt.
    • William Blake publishes Songs of Experience including the poem "London".
    • Sarson's vinegar is first brewed in Shoreditch.
  • 1795
    • 22 September: The London Missionary Society is established.
    • 29 October: George III is pelted with stones by an angry mob as the bread riots continue.
    • The Pantheon os rebuilt.
    • The Ackermann print-shop is in business.
  • 1796
    • 1 February: Protests over the price of bread culminate in Queen Charlotte being hit by a stone as she and George III return from a trip to the theatre.
    • December: The coldest day in London is recorded, where it reaches −21.1 °C (−6 °F) in Greenwich.
  • 1797
    • 15 January: The London haberdasher John Hetherington wears the first top hat in public and attracts a large crowd of onlookers. He is later fined £50 for causing public nuisance.
    • Hatchards bookshop is established in Piccadilly by John Hatchard.
  • 1798
    • 2 July: The Marine Police Force is formed on the Thames by magistrate Patrick Colquhoun to prevent pilfering in the Port of London and West India Docks; it is the first organised police force in Britain.
    • Henry Maudslay sets up the mechanical engineering business that becomes Maudslay, Sons and Field.
    • Rules (restaurant) is opened by Thomas Rule in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden as an oyster bar, making it London's oldest restaurant on its original site.
  • 1799
    • Gunter's Tea Shop is in business.
    • Horsemonger Lane Gaol completed as the new Surrey County Gaol in Southwark.

19th century

Main pages: 19th-century London and Timeline of London (1800s)

20th century

Main page: Timeline of London (1900s)

21st century

Main page: Timeline of London (2000s)

See also

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