1743 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1743 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

 * Monarch – George II
 * Prime Minister – Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington (Whig) (until 2 July); Henry Pelham (Whig) (starting 27 August)



Events

 * 21 February – premiere in London of George Frideric Handel's oratorio, Samson.
 * 2 March – War of Jenkins' Ear: Battle of La Guaira – A British expeditionary fleet under Sir Charles Knowles is defeated by the Spanish off the South American coast.
 * 13 April – British East India Company ship Princess Louisa is wrecked off the coast of Maio Island in the Cape Verde Islands, killing 49 of her 179 crew.
 * 16 June (27 June New Style) – War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Dettingen is fought in Bavaria. King George II leads the troops of Britain and Brunswick to victory over the French – the last time a reigning British monarch participates in a battle. The Prime Minister, Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, is also present, observing from a carriage. George Frideric Handel writes the oratorio Dettingen Te Deum in celebration of the King's victory.
 * 13 July – all 276 people on board the Dutch East India Company ship Hollandia drown after the ship strikes a rock off Annet, Isles of Scilly.
 * 20 July – Lord Anson captures the Philippine galleon Nuestra Señora de Covadonga and its treasure of 1,313,843 Spanish dollars at Manila.
 * 27 August – Henry Pelham becomes Prime Minister, following the death of Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, on 2 July.
 * 13 September – Treaty of Worms signed between Great Britain, the Holy Roman Emperor and the Kingdom of Sardinia.
 * 25 October – France and Spain form the Alliance of Fontainebleau with the aim of recapturing Gibraltar from Britain.
 * 11 December – Princess Louise, the King's daughter, marries Frederick, Crown Prince of Denmark and Norway.

Undated

 * Gin Act 1743 attempts to increase taxation on gin provoking riots in London.
 * Dr Christopher Packe produces the first geological map of south-east England.
 * Last wolf said to be killed in Scotland.
 * William Hogarth begins painting his Marriage à-la-mode series.

Publications

 * Robert Blair's poem The Grave is published.
 * The final edition of Alexander Pope's The Dunciad is published.

Births

 * 1 January – William Parker, admiral (died 1802)
 * 13 February – Joseph Banks, naturalist and botanist (died 1820)
 * 14 March – Hannah Cowley, dramatist and poet (died 1809)
 * 24 April – Edmund Cartwright, clergyman and inventor of the power loom (died 1823)
 * July – William Paley, philosopher (died 1805)

Deaths

 * 4 April – Daniel Neal, English historian (born 1678)
 * 23 May – Thomas Archer, baroque architect (born 1668)
 * 2 July – Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, Prime Minister of Great Britain (born 1674)
 * 1 August – Richard Savage, writer (born c. 1697)
 * 5 August – John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, English statesman and writer (born 1696)
 * 23 August – Mary Edwards, heiress (born 1705)
 * 4 October – John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, Scottish soldier (born 1678)
 * 5 October – Henry Carey, poet, dramatist and songwriter, suicide (born 1687)