1744

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October 4: The sinking of the British ship HMS Victory kills over 1,100 members of the Royal Navy.(1750 painting by Peter Monamy)

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February 16: The Great Comet of 1744 is visible in the skies over Europe.

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February 23: A French and Spanish fleet defeats the British at the Battle of Toulon, clearing the way for a possible French invasion of Britain.

Events

January–March

January 6 – The Royal Navy ship Bacchus engages the Spanish Navy privateer Begona, and sinks it; 90 of the 120 Spanish sailors die, but 30 of the crew are rescued.
January 24 – The Dagohoy rebellion in the Philippines begins, with the killing of Father Giuseppe Lamberti.
February 22–23 – Battle of Toulon: The British fleet is defeated by a joint Franco-Spanish fleet.
February 27 – Violent storms frustrate a planned French invasion of Britain.
March 1 (approximately) – The Great Comet of 1744, one of the brightest ever seen, reaches perihelion.
March 13 – The British ship Betty capsizes and sinks off of the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana) near Anomabu. More than 200 people on board die, although there are a few survivors.
March 15 – France declares war on Great Britain.

April–June

April – The Female Spectator (a monthly) is founded by Eliza Haywood in England, the first periodical written for women by a woman.
April 2 – The first Rules of golf are drawn up at Leith, for the first golf competition.<ref>Rules of Golf 1744 Scottish Golf History accessed 10 Feb 2017 http://www.scottishgolfhistory.org/origin-of-golf-terms/rules-of-golf/</ref><ref>Instructions, golf club rules and competitions History of Golf accessed 10 Feb 2017 History of golf</ref>
April 27 – Siege of Villafranca (1744): A joint French and Spanish force defeats Britain and Sardinia.
May 11 – Russia's treasury begins an effort to reduce the number of copper five-kopeck pieces (20 of which equal a Russian ruble) by declaring that it will buy them back at a ruble for every 20 until August 1, after which kopecks would be redeemed at a ruble for every 25; then at the rate of 33 for a ruble on October 1, and 50 for a ruble on and after August 28, 1746.<ref>"Banking in the Russian Empire", by Antoine E. Horn, in A History of Banking in All the Leading Nations (Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin, 1896) pp342-343</ref>
May 22 – The Union of Germany is proclaimed in Frankfurt Frederick II of Prussia, as articles of union are signed between Prussia, Hesse-Kassel and the Rhineland Palatinate.<ref>Martin Philippson, The Age of the European Balance of Power, translated by John Henry Wright (Lea Brothers & Company, 1905) p267</ref>
May 24 – After receiving the news from Europe that Great Britain and France are at war, the French Army at Louisbourg attacks the British settlement at Fort William Augustus at Canso, Nova Scotia and forces its surrender.<ref>"Canso, Battle of (1744)", by John D. Hamilton, in Colonial Wars of North America, 1512-1763: An Encyclopedia, ed. by Alan Gallay (Routledge, 2015) p100</ref>
June 13 – Alexey Bestuzhev-Ryumin is named as the new Chancellor of the Russian Empire by the Empress Elizabeth.<ref>John T. Alexander, Catherine the Great: Life and Legend (Oxford University Press, 1989) pp27-28</ref>
June 15 – Commodore George Anson's voyage around the world concludes after four years as HMS Centurion returns to England at Spithead and Anson is greeted as a hero.<ref>"Anson, George", by Joseph A. Devine, Jr., in Historical Dictionary of the British Empire, ed. by James S. Olson and Robert Shadle (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996) p68</ref>
June 28 – At the age of 15, Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, the future Empress of Russia, is received into the Russian Orthodox Church after converting from the Lutheran faith. Upon her conversion to the Russian Orthodox religion, she is given the name Yekaterina (Catherine). In 1762, she takes the throne as the Empress Catherine II, later known as Catherine the Great.

July–September

July 8 – The Royal Navy privateer Somerset capsizes and sinks in the Bristol Channel, killing 86 of the 97 crew.
July 19 – Battle of Casteldelfino: France defeats the Kingdom of Sardinia.
July 29 – Nader Shah lays siege to the Ottoman citadel of Kars.
August 12 – Battle of Velletri in the Kingdom of Naples: Spanish-Neapolitan forces defeat those of the Archduchy of Austria.
September 30 – Battle of Madonna dell'Olmo: France and Spain defeat the Kingdom of Sardinia.

October–December

October 4 – In one of the greatest disasters for the Royal Navy, HMS Victory sinks in a storm in the English Channel, killing 1,100 sailors and officers it had been bringing back from Gibraltar to England, including Admiral John Balchen.<ref>Stewart Gordon, A History of the World in Sixteen Shipwrecks (ForeEdge, University Press of New England, 2015) p.140</ref> The wreck will be located 264 years later, in January, 2009.<ref>"Legendary British warship 'found'", BBC News, February 1, 2009</ref>
October 12 – The creator of binomial nomenclature for the identification of plant and animal species, Carl Linnaeus, is selected as president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, succeeding the late Anders Celsius, who had devised the centigrade measurement of temperature.<ref>Florence Caddy, Through the Fields with Linnaeus: A Chapter in Swedish History (Little, Brown, and Company, 1886) p159</ref>
October 19 – William Shirley, the British colonial Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, announces the declaration of war against the Miꞌkmaq and Maliseet Indian tribes.<ref>Frederic J. Baumgartner, Declaring War in Early Modern Europe (Springer, 2011) p149</ref>
October 25
- The Massachusetts General Court, colonial legislature for the Massachusetts Bay Province, approves an incentive for the killing of enemy Indians, authorizing the payment of 100 Massachusetts pounds for the scalping of a Mi'kmaq or Maliseet Indian, and 50 for the scalps of women or children.<ref>Geoffrey Plank, An Unsettled Conquest: The British Campaign Against the Peoples of Acadia (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) p110</ref>
- Spanish explorers Antonio de Ulloa and Jorge Juan y Santacilla complete their mission of exploration and depart from the Peruvian seaport of Callao for a return to Spain.<ref>Robert Whitaker, The Mapmaker's Wife: A True Tale Of Love, Murder, And Survival In The Amazon (Basic Books, 2004) p197</ref>
November 1 – Second Silesian War: The Prussian Army, under the command of Field Marshal Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, begins the bombardment of Prague. The Bohemian capital surrenders after two weeks.<ref>Peter Demetz, Prague in Black and Gold: Scenes from the Life of a European City (Macmillan, 1998) p243</ref>
December 18 – Queen Maria Theresa of Austria issues a proclamation to rid Bohemia of its Jewish residents, with the Jews to leave Prague over the next two weeks, and then to depart from Bohemia entirely in 1745.<ref>Selma Stern, The Court Jew - A Contribution to the History of the Period of Absolutism in Central Europe (Read Books, 2011)</ref>

Date unknown

The third French and Indian War, known as King George's War, breaks out at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.
Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, sequel to Tommy Thumb's Song Book, containing the oldest version of many well-known and popular rhymes, is published in London.