1777 in Great Britain

Events from the year 1777 in Great Britain.

Incumbents

 * Monarch – George III
 * Prime Minister – Frederick North, Lord North (Tory)

Events

 * 3 January – American Revolution: American general George Washington defeats British general Charles Cornwallis at the Battle of Princeton.
 * 1 May – legal case of Goodright v. Stevens decides that the declaration of either parent cannot be accepted to prove that a child born in wedlock is a bastard.
 * 8 May – first performance of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy of manners The School for Scandal at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.
 * May – completion of the Trent and Mersey Canal.
 * 21 July – Holmfirth Flood in the Holme Valley of West Yorkshire: three drowned.
 * 16 August – American Revolution: at the Battle of Bennington British and Brunswicker forces are decisively defeated by American troops.
 * 8 September – inauguration of Bath and West of England Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.
 * 11 September – American Revolution: Battle of Brandywine is a major victory for British in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
 * 19 September – American Revolution: first Battle of Saratoga /Battle of Freeman's Farm/Battle of Bemis Heights.
 * 4 October – American Revolution: at the Battle of Germantown, troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.
 * 17 October – American Revolution: American victory at the Battle of Saratoga.
 * 24 December – Kiritimati discovered by James Cook.

Undated

 * William Bass establishes the Bass Brewery at Burton upon Trent.

Publications

 * Encyclopædia Britannica Second Edition begins publication.
 * Laws Respecting Women, as they Regard Their Natural Rights is published by Joseph Johnson.
 * John Howard's study The State of the Prisons in England and Wales.
 * Clara Reeve’s Gothic novel The Champion of Virtue (anonymously), later known as The Old English Baron.

Births

 * 22 January – Joseph Hume, doctor and politician (died 1855)
 * 3 February – John Cheyne, physician (died 1836)
 * 16 February – Benjamin D'Urban, general and colonial administrator (died 1849)
 * 1 April – William Gell, archaeologist (died 1836)
 * 24 June – John Ross, Arctic explorer (died 1856)
 * 9 July – Henry Hallam, historian (died 1859)
 * 3 November – Princess Sophia, fifth daughter of King George III (died 1848)

Deaths

 * 12 January – Hugh Mercer, soldier and physician, dies in Princeton, New Jersey, United States (born 1726)
 * 11 May – George Pigot, Baron Pigot, governor of Madras (born 1719)
 * 19 or 27 May – Button Gwinnett, 2nd Governor of Georgia, dies near Savannah, Georgia, United States (born 1735)
 * 27 July – William Hayes, composer (bapt. 1708)
 * 7 October – Simon Fraser, general (born 1729)
 * 21 October – Samuel Foote, dramatist and actor (born 1720)
 * 26 December – Dolly Pentreath, last-known fluent native speaker of the Cornish language (born 1692)