Events

• March 2 - Small earthquake in London
• April 4 - Small earthquake in Warrington, England
• August 23 - Small earthquake in Spalding, England
• September 30 - Small earthquake in Northampton, England
• November 16 – Westminster Bridge officially opened
• Jonas Hanway is the first Englishman to use an umbrella
• "James Gray" reveals her sex to her Royal Marines compatriots
• José I takes over the throne of Portugal from his deceased father, João V. King José Manuel appoints the Marquis of Pombal as his Chief Minister, who then strips the Inquisition of its power.
• John Cleland publishes Fanny Hill, or The Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure

Births

• January 1 - Frederick Muhlenberg, first speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1801)
• May 31 - Karl August von Hardenberg, Prussian politician (d. 1822)
• August 18 - Antonio Salieri, Italian composer (d. 1825)
• November 7 - Friedrich Leopold Graf zu Stolberg, German poet (d. 1819)
• December 23 - Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (d. 1827)
• Tipu Sultan, Sultan of Mysore (d. 1799)
• Joanna Southcott, British religious fanatic (d. 1814)

Deaths

• April 20 - Jean Louis Petit , French surgeon
• June 15 - Marguerite De Launay, Baronne Staal, French writer
• July 28 - Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer (b. 1685)
• July 31 - João V of Portugal
• Emperor Sakuramachi of Japan
• Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Italian historian and scholar (b. 1672)
• Rachel Ruysch, Dutch painter (b. 1664)