1702 in England

Events from the year 1702 in England. This year sees a change of monarch.

Incumbents

 * Monarch – William III (until 8 March), Anne (starting 8 March)

Events

 * 20 February – William III falls from his horse, Sorrel, in Richmond Park after it stumbles on a molehill and breaks his clavicle.
 * 8 March (19 March N.S.) – William III dies at Kensington Palace of complications following his accident; his sister-in-law Anne Stuart, Princess of Denmark, becomes Queen Anne of England.
 * 11 March (22 March N.S.) – the first regular English language national newspaper, The Daily Courant, is published for the first time in Fleet Street in the City of London by Elizabeth Mallet; it covers only foreign news.
 * 23 April – coronation of Queen Anne in Westminster Abbey.
 * 4 May (14 May N.S.) – War of the Spanish Succession: England, the Dutch Republic and the Holy Roman Empire declare war on France as part of the Grand Alliance.
 * 8 May – Lord Godolphin becomes Lord High Treasurer at the urging his friend and political ally John Churchill, Earl of Marlborough establishing the Godolphin–Marlborough ministry which will remain in power until 1710.
 * June – War of the Spanish Succession: Queen Anne's Captain-General Marlborough forces the surrender of Kaiserswerth on the Rhine.
 * July – general election results in victory for the Tories.
 * September – War of the Spanish Succession: Churchill forces the surrender of Venlo on the River Meuse.
 * 27 October – English troops plunder St. Augustine in Florida.
 * October – War of the Spanish Succession: George Rooke fails to take Cádiz, but captures a Spanish treasure fleet and destroys French and Spanish warships.
 * 23 October – War of the Spanish Succession:
 * Churchill forces the surrender of Liège.
 * At the Battle of Vigo Bay, the Anglo-Dutch fleet defeats that of France and Spain.
 * December – Daniel Defoe publishes his satiric pamphlet The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (anonymously).
 * 14 December – John Churchill is created Duke of Marlborough.

Undated

 * Castle Howard in Yorkshire completed, to the design of John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor.
 * George Sorocold erects machinery at Cotchetts' silk spinning mill in Derby, making it one of the earliest examples of a factory.
 * Richard Bentley at Cambridge introduces the first written (as opposed to oral) competitive examinations in a Western university.
 * Ripon Obelisk designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, triggering a fashion for obelisks in Britain.
 * John Kersey publishes A New English Dictionary; or, a complete collection of the most proper and significant words, commonly used in the language.

Births

 * 4 March – Jack Sheppard, burglar and escapee (died 1724)
 * 26 June – Philip Doddridge, religious leader (died 1751)
 * 5 November – Edward Stone, polymath (died 1768)
 * Undated – Benjamin Stillingfleet, botanist (died 1771)

Deaths

 * 8 March – King William III (born 1650 in The Hague, Netherlands)
 * 23 April – Margaret Fell, Quaker leader (born 1614)
 * 28 September – Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, statesman (born 1640)
 * 15 October – Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond, courtier (born 1647)
 * 4 November – John Benbow, admiral (born 1653)