Robert Adam

This portraitback to top

After his Grand Tour, Robert Adam set up in London as an architect in 1758 with his younger brothers. For the next thirty years his neoclassical designs, en-suite planning and attention to every detail of interior decoration were to revolutionise English domestic architecture. Famous buildings by him in or near London include 20 Portman Square (now Home House), the Adelphi, Kenwood, Osterley and Syon. He is shown in this portrait by Willison supporting a large volume, presumably of architectural drawings, on his knee.

Events of 1770back to top

Current affairs

Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton resigns as Prime Minister and is succeeded by Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford.

Art and science

Oliver Goldsmith publishes his poem The Deserted Village.
Philosopher and politician Edmund Burke publishes Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents discussing the limits of the King's authority.
17-year-old Thomas Chatterton, later hailed as a significant poet, commits suicide in a London garret.
Thomas Gainsborough paints his portrait of Jonathan Buttall, which later becomes known as The Blue Boy.

International

'Townshend duties' on imports into the colonies are repealed, except for the duty on tea. However, this concession is soon followed by the Boston Massacre, in which British troops fire into an unruly crowd in Boston, killing five.
Captain Cook reaches the eastern coast of Australia, at a place which he names Botany Bay. He discovers the Great Barrier Reef when HMS Endeavour runs onto it. Cook claims New South Wales for the British.

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