1661 in England

Events from the year 1661 in England.

Incumbents

 * Monarch – Charles II

Events

 * 6 January – the Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London. George Monck's regiment defeats them.
 * 30 January – the bodies of Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton, John Bradshaw and Thomas Pride are exhumed and subjected to a posthumous execution. Oliver Cromwell's head (with the others') is placed on a spike above the Palace of Westminster.
 * 14 February – George Monck's regiment becomes The Lord General's Regiment of Foot Guards (which later becomes the Coldstream Guards).
 * 15 April – the Savoy Conference of bishops and Presbyterians fails to agree on a new revision of the Prayer Book.
 * 19 April – the Post Office introduces post marks.
 * 23 April – Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned King in Westminster Abbey. A new St Edward's Crown is made for the occasion.
 * 8 May – first meeting of the Cavalier Parliament.
 * 5 June – Isaac Newton admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge.
 * 23 June – Charles II signs a marriage treaty with Portugal. He will marry Catherine of Braganza; as part of the dowry, Portugal cedes Bombay and Tangier to England and grants free trade with Brazil and the East Indies.
 * 28 June – Lisle's Tennis Court in Lincoln's Inn Fields, London is opened as a playhouse.
 * 1 October – a yacht race from Greenwich to Gravesend between King Charles and James, Duke of York makes the sport fashionable.
 * October
 * Collection of a "free and voluntary present" of cash for the King from householders commences.
 * King Charles II appoints Peter Lely as his court painter.
 * December – convocations at Canterbury and York complete the new Anglican Prayer Book (forcibly imposed in 1662).
 * 20 December – Parliament passes the Corporation Act 1661 restricting public office to members of the Church of England.

Publications

 * Robert Boyle publishes The Sceptical Chymist in London, in which he developed the idea of elements and "corpuscles" (atoms).
 * John Evelyn's pamphlet Fumifugium is one of the earliest descriptions of air pollution.

Births

 * 21 January – Peter Le Neve, herald and antiquary (died 1729)
 * 20 February – William Digby, 5th Baron Digby, politician (died 1752)
 * 25 February – Anne Lennard, Countess of Sussex, née Palmer or FitzRoy, illegitimate daughter of Charles II (died 1721/2)
 * 16 April – Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, poet and statesman (died 1715)
 * 7 May – George Clarke, politician and architect (died 1736)
 * 11 August – William Churchill, politician (died 1737)
 * 31 August – Charles Granville, 2nd Earl of Bath, diplomat (died 1701)
 * 1 October – Sir Matthew Dudley, 2nd Baronet, Member of Parliament (died 1721)
 * 22 October – Margaret Holles, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, noblewoman (d. 1717)
 * 28 November – Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon, Governor of New York and New Jersey (died 1723)
 * 3 December – Nathaniel Gould, politician (died 1728)
 * 5 December – Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, statesman (died 1724)
 * date unknown
 * Samuel Garth, physician and poet (died 1719)
 * Nicholas Hawksmoor, architect (died 1736)
 * Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton, supporter of William III of Orange (died 1722)

Deaths

 * 19 January – Thomas Venner, Fifth Monarchist (executed) (year of birth unknown)
 * 1 March – Richard Zouch, jurist (born 1590)
 * 7 April – William Brereton, soldier and politician (born 1604)
 * 16 August – Thomas Fuller, churchman and historian (born 1608)
 * 19 November – Brian Walton, clergyman and scholar (born 1600)