1744 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1744 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

 * Monarch – George II
 * Prime Minister – Henry Pelham (Whig)

Events

 * 10–11 February (22–23 February New Style) – War of the Austrian Succession: British fleet defeated by a Franco-Spanish fleet at the Battle of Toulon with loss of the fire ship HMS Anne Galley and all her crew.
 * 27 February – a planned French invasion of Britain fails when a violent storm partially wrecks the French invasion force attempting to cross from Dunkirk to Maldon.
 * 4–15 March – War of the Austrian Succession: France declares war on Britain.
 * 3 October – HMS Victory (1737) is wrecked on the Casquets in the Channel Islands with the loss of around 900 lives.
 * 28 December–8 January 1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: The Quadruple Alliance of Britain, Austria, Saxony-Poland and the United Netherlands is formed against Prussia.
 * Undated
 * Northampton General Hospital established as Northampton Infirmary.
 * Mineral springs discovered at Thorp Spa in the West Riding of Yorkshire by John Shires.

Publications

 * April – Eliza Haywood's monthly The Female Spectator begins publication, the first periodical written for women by a woman.
 * Samuel Johnson's biography of Richard Savage.
 * John Newbery's children's book A Little Pretty Pocket-Book.
 * Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, containing the earliest known printed versions of many nursery rhymes.
 * William Williams Pantycelyn's first collection of Welsh hymns Aleluia (first part).
 * The first known Laws of cricket.
 * First definitive version of the national anthem God Save the King in Thesaurus Musicus.

Births

 * 13 February – David Allan, painter (died 1796)
 * 19 May – Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, queen of George III of Great Britain (died 1818)
 * 21 May – Samuel Ireland, author and engraver (died 1800)
 * 31 May – Richard Lovell Edgeworth, politician, writer and inventor (died 1817)

Deaths

 * 14 February – John Hadley, mathematician and inventor (born 1682)
 * 4 March – John Anstis, herald (born 1669)
 * 30 May – Alexander Pope, writer (born 1688)
 * 29 June – John Eames, dissenting tutor (born 1686)
 * 9 August – James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, patron of the arts (born 1673)
 * 18 October – Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, friend of Queen Anne (born 1660)