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William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley

published by Edward Evans, after Silvester (Sylvester) Harding
stipple engraving, circa 1775-1800
11 in. x 8 in. (278 mm x 203 mm) plate size; 11 1/8 in. x 8 1/4 in. (284 mm x 209 mm) paper size
Given by Sir Herbert Henry Raphael, 1st Bt, 1916
Reference Collection
NPG D20134

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Current affairs

Act of Parliament extends inventor James Watt's patent (first granted in 1769) and the first steam engines are built under it.
First known building society - Ketley's Building Society - is established in Birmingham by Richard Ketley, landlord of the Golden Cross Inn.

Art and science

First performance of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play The Rivals at the Covent Garden Theatre in London.
Artist J.M.W. Turner is born.
Satirist James Gillray's first engravings and etchings are published.
Navigator Captain Cook publishes his discovery of a preventive cure against scurvy, in the form of a regular ration of lemon juice.

International

War of American Independence begins with British defeat at Lexington and Concord and lasts until 1783. British achieve a narrow and costly victory over the Americans at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Edmund Burke delivers a speech to the British Parliament on conciliation with the American colonies.
First performance of Pierre Beaumarchais' comic opera The Barber of Seville in Paris.
Pope Pius VI succeeds Pope Clement XIV as the 251st pope.

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