1672 in England

Events from the year 1672 in England.

Incumbents[]

• Monarch – Charles II
• Parliament – Cavalier

Events[]

The Burning of the Royal James at the Battle of Solebay, by Willem van de Velde

• 2 January – cash payments by the Exchequer suspended for a year, due to fears of imminent bankruptcy.^[1]
• 25 January – The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London burns down, forcing the King's Company to relocate to the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre while it is rebuilt.
• 15 March – King Charles II issues the Royal Declaration of Indulgence, suspending execution of Penal Laws against Protestant nonconformists and Roman Catholics in his realms.^[2]
• 17 March – Third Anglo-Dutch War – England declares war on the Dutch Republic.^[2]
• 28 May (7 June New Style) – the first naval battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War is fought at the Battle of Solebay; indecisive.^[1]
• 13 September – John Bunyan released after a 12-year imprisonment for preaching without a licence.^[3]
• December – John Dryden's play Marriage à la Mode first performed in London by the King's Company.^[4]
• 30 December – first commercial public concert series in Europe begins; organised by John Banister at Whitefriars, near Fleet Street in London.^[1]

Undated[]

• The bankrupt Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa is restructured into the new Royal African Company with a new, broader charter to trade into West Africa.
• Rebuilding begins of St Stephen Walbrook church in the City of London, designed by Christopher Wren.^[2]
• Rebuilding of Temple Bar, London, designed by Christopher Wren.
• Richard Hoare becomes a partner in the London goldsmith's business which, as private banking house C. Hoare & Co., will survive through to the 21st century.^[5]
• The Fulham Pottery is established in London by John Dwight, the earliest certainly known native stoneware manufacturer in England; it will survive until the second half of the 20th century.^[6]

Births[]

• 9 April – Thomas Willoughby, 1st Baron Middleton, Member of Parliament (died 1729)
• 1 May – Joseph Addison, politician and writer (died 1719)
• June – Henry Hyde, 4th Earl of Clarendon, politician (died 1753)
• 17 July (baptism) – Anthony Blackwall, scholar (died 1730)
• 29 July – Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, illegitimate son of Charles II (died 1723)
• 17 September (baptism) – Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, diplomat and First Lord of the Admiralty (died 1739)
• John Lovelace, 4th Baron Lovelace, colonial governor (died 1709)
• Thomas Steers, civil engineer (died 1750)

Deaths[]

• 15 January – John Cosin, clergyman (born 1594)
• 25 January – Richard Bell, killed in fire at Drury Lane Theatre
• 5 May – Samuel Cooper, painter (born 1609)
• 11 May – Charles Seton, 2nd Earl of Dunfermline, royalist (born 1615)
• 28 May
  • Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, admiral (born 1625)
  • John Trevor, politician (born |1626)
• 27 June – Roger Twysden, antiquarian and royalist (born 1597)
• 3 July – Francis Willughby, biologist (born 1635)
• 8 August – Sir John Borlase, 1st Baronet, politician (born 1619)
• 24 October – John Webb, architect (born 1611)
• 15 November – Sir Walter Long, 1st Baronet of Whaddon, Member of Parliament (born c. 1603)
• 19 November
  • Peter Sterry, theologian (born 1613)
  • John Wilkins, Bishop of Chester (born 1614)
• 6 December – Jasper Mayne, dramatist (born 1604)
• 21 December – Charles Stanley, 8th Earl of Derby, (born 1628)
• Philip Nye, theologian (born c. 1595)

References[]