Editing 1781

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2011}}
{{Year dab|1781}}
{{Year nav|1781}}
[[File:Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.jpg|250px|thumb|[[October 19]]: Britain's General Cornwallis surrenders to General Washington at [[Siege of Yorktown|Yorktown]], conceding American victory in war.]]
{{C18 year in topic}}
[[File:Cuadro por españa y por el rey, Galvez en America.jpg|thumb|[[March 9]]: [[Siege of Pensacola]]]]
[[File:Uranus with rings PIA01280.jpg|thumb|right| [[March 13]]: [[Uranus]] is discovered.]]
[[File:Bataille de Yorktown by Auguste Couder.jpg|thumb|[[September 28]]: The [[Siege of Yorktown]] begins.]]

{{Year article header|1781}}

== Events ==
<onlyinclude>

=== January&ndash;March ===
* [[January]] &ndash; [[William Pitt the Younger]], later [[Prime Minister of Great Britain]], enters [[Parliament of Great Britain|Parliament]], aged 21.
* [[January 1]] &ndash; [[Industrial Revolution]]: [[The Iron Bridge]] opens across the [[River Severn]] in England.<ref name="Cassell's Chronology333334">{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|url=https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/333|url-access=registration|location=London|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/333 333–334]}}</ref>
* [[January 2]] &ndash; [[Virginia]] passes a law ceding its [[western land claims]], paving the way for [[Maryland]] to ratify the [[Articles of Confederation]].
* [[January 5]] &ndash; [[American Revolutionary War]]: [[Richmond, Virginia]] is [[Raid on Richmond|burned]] by [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] naval forces, led by [[Benedict Arnold]].
* [[January 6]] &ndash; [[Battle of Jersey]]: British troops prevent the French from occupying [[Jersey]] in the [[Channel Islands]].
* [[January 17]] &ndash; [[American Revolutionary War]] &ndash; [[Battle of Cowpens]]: The American [[Continental Army]], under [[Daniel Morgan]], decisively defeats British forces in [[South Carolina]].<ref name="Pocket On This Day">{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}</ref> 
* [[February 2]] &ndash; The Articles of Confederation are ratified by [[Maryland]], the 13th and final state to do so.
* [[February 3]] &ndash; [[Fourth Anglo-Dutch War]] &ndash; [[Capture of Sint Eustatius]]: British forces take the Dutch Caribbean island of [[Sint Eustatius]], with only a few shots fired. On [[November 26]] it is retaken by Dutch-allied French forces.
* [[March]] &ndash; [[Revolt of the Comuneros (New Granada)|Riots]] break out in [[Socorro, Santander]], and spread to other towns.
* [[March 1]] &ndash; The United States [[Continental Congress]] implements the Articles of Confederation, forming its Perpetual Union as the United States in Congress Assembled.
* [[March 13]] &ndash; Sir [[William Herschel]] discovers the [[planet]] [[Uranus]]. Originally he calls it ''Georgium Sidus'' (George's Star), in honour of King [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III of Great Britain]].
* [[March 15]] &ndash; American Revolutionary War &ndash; [[Battle of Guilford Court House]]: American General [[Nathanael Greene]] loses to the British.
* [[March 16]] &ndash; [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] arrives in Vienna after being fired by the [[Hieronymus von Colloredo|Archbishop of Salzburg]]. He would stay there for the rest of his brief life.

=== April&ndash;June ===
* [[April 4]] &ndash; American Revolutionary War: The Spanish [[Capture of HMS St. Fermin|capture]] the [[sloop-of-war]] {{HMS|St Fermin|1780|6}} off [[Málaga]], Spain. 
* [[April 6]] &ndash; The rebellion by [[Túpac Amaru II]], against the Spanish colonial government of Peru, is ended as Tupac, his wife and two of his sons are captured at [[Checacupe District|Checacupe]].<ref>"The Rebellion of Tupac-Amaru II", in ''The Hispanic American Historical Review'' (February 1919) p20
</ref>
* [[April 10]] &ndash; Future U.S. President [[Andrew Jackson]], age 14, is slashed by a British officer's sword at his home near [[Waxhaw, North Carolina]], after refusing to clean the officer's boots, an event that leaves physical and psychological scars.<ref>William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb, ''The American Patriot's Almanac: Daily Readings on America'' (Thomas Nelson, Inc. 2013) p125</ref>
* [[April 14]] &ndash; The Continental Congress votes a resolution thanking U.S. Captain [[John Paul Jones]] for his services.<ref>"John Paul Jones and Our First Triumphs on the Sea", in ''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (July 1905) p42</ref>
* [[April 18]] &ndash; Future New York mayor [[James Duane]], North Carolina representative [[William Sharpe (North Carolina politician)|William Sharpe]] and future Connecticut governor [[Oliver Wolcott]] deliver the first report to the U.S. Continental Congress about the national debt and report it to be 24,057,157 and 2/5 dollars.<ref>Albert Bushnell Hart, ed., ''American History Told by Contemporaries'' (Macmillan, 1908) p600</ref>
* [[April 25]] &ndash; American Revolutionary War: The [[Battle of Hobkirk's Hill]] takes place in [[Camden, South Carolina]]
* [[May 9]] &ndash; General [[John Campbell, of Strachur|John Campbell]], defender of the British colony of [[West Florida]], surrenders the capital at [[Pensacola]] to Spanish forces commanded by [[Bernardo de Galvez]].<ref>Michael Lee Lannin, ''African Americans in the Revolutionary War'' (Citadel Press, 2005) p86</ref>
* [[May 18]] &ndash; A Spanish army sent from [[Lima]] puts down the Inca rebellions, and captures and savagely executes [[Túpac Amaru II]].
* [[June 4]] &ndash; The commission{{which|date=January 2013}} agrees to the rebels'{{where|date=January 2013}} terms: reduction of the [[alcabala]] and of the Indians' forced tribute, abolition of the new taxes on tobacco, and preference for [[Criollo people|Criollos]] over [[peninsulares]] in government positions.
* [[June 12]] &ndash; ''Ohmiya'' (近江屋), as predecessor for [[Takeda Pharmaceutical Company|Takeda]], a major worldwide [[pharmaceutical]] [[brand]], is founded in Doshomachi (道修町), [[Osaka]], [[Japan]].{{page needed|date=April 2020}}

=== July&ndash;September ===
* [[July 27]] &ndash; French spy [[François Henri de la Motte]] is [[Hanged, drawn and quartered|hanged and drawn]] before a large crowd at [[Tyburn]], London in England for [[high treason]].
* [[July 29]] &ndash; [[American Revolution]] &ndash; Skirmish at the House in the Horseshoe: A Tory force under [[David Fanning (loyalist)|David Fanning]] attacks Phillip Alston's smaller force of [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Whigs]], at Alston's home in [[Cumberland County, North Carolina]] (in present day [[Moore County, North Carolina]]). Alston's troops surrender, after Fanning's men attempt to ram the house with a cart of burning straw.
* [[August 30]] &ndash; [[American Revolution]]: A French fleet under [[Comte de Grasse]] enters [[Chesapeake Bay]], cutting British General [[Charles Cornwallis]] off from escape by sea.
* [[September 4]] &ndash; [[Los Angeles]] is founded as ''[[Pueblo de Los Ángeles|El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Ángeles de Porciuncula]]'' ("City of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula"), by a group of 44 Spanish settlers in California.
[[File:BattleOfVirginiaCapes.jpg|thumb|right|[[September 5]]: [[Battle of the Chesapeake]]]]
* [[September 5]] &ndash; [[American Revolution]] &ndash; [[Battle of the Chesapeake]]: A British fleet under [[Thomas Graves, 1st Baron Graves|Thomas Graves]] arrives and fights de Grasse, but is unable to break through to relieve the [[Siege of Yorktown]].
* [[September 6]] &ndash; [[American Revolution]] &ndash; [[Battle of Groton Heights]]: A British force under [[Benedict Arnold]] attacks a fort in [[Groton, Connecticut]], achieving a strategic victory. 
* [[September 8]] &ndash; [[American Revolution]] &ndash; [[Battle of Eutaw Springs]], South Carolina: The war's last significant battle, in the Southern theatre, ends in a narrow British tactical victory.
* [[September 10]] &ndash; [[American Revolution]]: Graves gives up trying to break through the now-reinforced French fleet and returns to New York, leaving Cornwallis to his fate.
* [[September 28]] &ndash; [[American Revolution]]: American and French troops begin a siege of the British at Yorktown, Virginia.

=== October&ndash;December ===
* [[October 12]] &ndash; The first [[bagpipes]] competition is held in the Masonic Arms, [[Falkirk]], Scotland. 
* [[October 19]] &ndash; [[American Revolution]]: Following the [[Siege of Yorktown]], General [[Charles Cornwallis]] surrenders to General [[George Washington]] at [[Yorktown, Virginia]], ending the armed struggle of the American Revolution.
* [[October 20]] &ndash; A [[Patent of Toleration]], providing limited [[freedom of religion|freedom of worship]], is approved in the [[Habsburg monarchy]].
* [[November 5]] &ndash; [[John Hanson]] is elected [[President of the Continental Congress]].
* [[November 29]] 
** English [[History of slavery|slave trade]]rs begin to throw approximately 142 slaves taken on in [[Accra]] overboard alive from the [[slave ship]] ''[[Zong massacre|Zong]]'' in the [[Caribbean Sea]] to conserve supplies for the remainder; the [[Liverpool]] owners subsequently attempt to reclaim part of their value from insurers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/launch_tl_british.shtml|title=BBC History British History Timeline|access-date=2007-09-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070909012414/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/launch_tl_british.shtml |archive-date=September 9, 2007<!--Added by DASHBot-->}}</ref>
** [[Henry Hurle]] officially founds the [[Ancient Order of Druids]] in London, England.
* [[December]] &ndash; A school is founded in [[Washington County, Pennsylvania]] that will later be known as [[Washington & Jefferson College]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.washjeff.edu/content.aspx?section=372&menu_id=133&crumb=137&id=54 |title=History & Facts |publisher=Washington & Jefferson College |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708173722/http://www.washjeff.edu/content.aspx?section=372&menu_id=133&crumb=137&id=54 |archive-date=July 8, 2011 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all |access-date=September 10, 2010 }}</ref>
* [[December 12]] &ndash; [[American Revolutionary War]] &ndash; [[Battle of Ushant (1781)|Second Battle of Ushant]]: The British [[Royal Navy]], commanded by Rear Admiral [[Richard Kempenfelt]] in {{HMS|Victory}}, decisively defeats the French fleet in the [[Bay of Biscay]].

=== Date unknown ===
* [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor]] abolishes [[serfdom]].
* The [[Bank of North America]] is chartered by the [[Continental Congress]].
* [[Charles Messier]] publishes the final catalog of [[Messier object]]s.
* [[Carl Wilhelm Scheele]] discovers [[tungsten]].
* [[Immanuel Kant]] publishes his ''[[Critique of Pure Reason]]''.
* Reverend [[Samuel Peters (clergyman)|Samuel Peters]] publishes his ''General History of Connecticut'', using the term [[blue law]] for the first time.
* [[Phillips Exeter Academy]] is founded in [[New Hampshire]].
</onlyinclude>

== Births ==
* [[January 26]] &ndash; [[Achim von Arnim]], German novelist and poet (d. [[1831]])<ref>{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Arnim, Ludwig Joachim von|year=1905}}</ref>
* [[January 30]] &ndash; [[Adelbert von Chamisso]], German poet and scientist (d. [[1838]])<ref>{{cite book|author1=Eva R. Trautmann|author2=Adelbert von Chamisso|title=The Alaska diary of Adelbert von Chamisso, naturalist on the Kotzebue voyage, 1815-1818|publisher=Cook Inlet Historical Society|year=1986|page=1}}</ref>
* [[February 17]] &ndash; [[René Laennec]], French physician and inventor (d. [[1826]])
* [[March 1]] &ndash; [[Javiera Carrera]], Chilean independence campaigner (d. [[1862]])
* [[March 4]] &ndash; [[Rebecca Gratz]], American educator, philanthropist (d. [[1869]])
* [[March 13]] &ndash; [[Karl Friedrich Schinkel]], German architect, painter (d. [[1841]])
[[File:Lord Swaminarayan writing the Shikshapatri.jpg|thumb|110px|[[Swaminarayan]]]]
* [[April 3]] &ndash; [[Swaminarayan]], Indian Hindu reformer and deity (d. [[1830]])
* [[May 9]] &ndash; [[Henri Cassini]], French botanist and naturalist (d. [[1832]]) 
[[File:GeorgeStephenson.PNG|thumb|110px|[[George Stephenson]]]]
* [[June 9]] &ndash; [[George Stephenson]], English engineer, designer of railway locomotives [[Locomotion No. 1|''Locomotion'' No. 1]], ''[[Stephenson's Rocket|Rocket]]'' (d. [[1848]])
* [[June 21]] &ndash; [[Siméon Denis Poisson]], French mathematician, physicist (d. [[1840]])
* [[July 6]] 
** [[Stamford Raffles]], English founder of Singapore (d. [[1826]])
** [[John D. Sloat]], American naval officer (d. [[1867]])
* [[July 27]] &ndash; [[Mauro Giuliani]], Italian composer (d. [[1829]])
* [[September 3]] &ndash; [[Eugène de Beauharnais]], French nobleman, son of Napoleon's wife [[Joséphine de Beauharnais|Joséphine]] (d. [[1824]])
* [[September 5]] &ndash; [[Anton Diabelli]], Austrian music publisher, editor and composer (d. [[1858]])<ref>{{cite book | last = Harnsberger | first = Lindsey | title = Essential dictionary of music: definitions, composers, theory, instrument & vocal ranges | publisher = Alfred Pub. Co | location = Los Angeles | year = 1997 | isbn = 9780882847283 | page=181}}</ref>
* [[October 5]] &ndash; [[Bernard Bolzano]], Czech philosopher and mathematician (d. [[1848]])
* [[October 22]] &ndash; [[Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France]] (d. [[1789]])
* [[November 1]] &ndash; [[Joseph Karl Stieler]], German painter (d. [[1858]]) 
* [[November 6]] 
** [[Lucy Aikin]], English writer (d. [[1864]])
** [[Maha Bandula]], Commander-in-chief of the Burmese military forces (d. [[1825]])
* [[November 20]] &ndash; [[Karl Friedrich Eichhorn]], German jurist (d. [[1854]])
* [[November 29]] &ndash; [[Andrés Bello]], Venezuelan poet, lawmaker, teacher, philosopher, sociologist (d. [[1865]])<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leonard |first1=Irving A. |title=Andrés Bello (1781-1865), National Hero |journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review |date=1954 |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=502–505 |doi=10.2307/2509082 |issn=0018-2168|jstor=2509082 }}</ref>  
* [[November 30]] &ndash; [[Alexander Berry]], Scottish adventurer, Australian pioneer (d. [[1873]]) 
* [[December 11]] &ndash; Sir [[David Brewster]], Scottish physicist (d. [[1868]])

=== Date unknown ===
* [[Sanité Bélair]], Haitian national heroine (d. [[1802]])
* [[Haji Shariatullah]], Bengali Islamic scholar (d. [[1840]])<ref name="JPHS">{{cite journal | last = Khan | first = Moin-Ud-Din | title = Haji Shari'at-Allah | journal = Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society | volume = 11 | number =  2 | page = 106 | date = 1 April 1963 |language=en | id={{ProQuest|1301938794}} }}</ref>
* [[William Williams of Wern]], Welsh minister (d. [[1840]])

== Deaths ==
* [[January 12]] &ndash; [[Richard Challoner]], English Catholic prelate (b. [[1691]])
* [[January 15]] &ndash; [[Mariana Victoria of Spain]], [[Queen consort of Portugal]] (b. [[1718]])
[[File:Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.PNG|thumb|right|110px|[[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]]]]
* [[February 15]] &ndash; [[Gotthold Ephraim Lessing]], German author, philosopher (b. [[1729]])<ref>{{cite book | last = Yasukata | first = Toshimasa | title = Lessing's philosophy of religion and the German enlightenment: Lessing on Christianity and reason | publisher = Oxford University Press | location = Oxford New York | year = 2002 | isbn = 9780198033103 | page=118}}</ref>
* [[February 23]] &ndash; [[George Taylor (Pennsylvania politician)|George Taylor]], Founding Father of the United States and signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. c. [[1716]])
* [[March 17]] &ndash; [[Johannes Ewald]], [[Danish literature|Danish]] national dramatist and poet (b. [[1743]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://runeberg.org/dandig19/0087.html|title=Johannes Ewald|website=   	Illustreret dansk Literaturhistorie   |access-date=1 August 2020}}</ref>
* [[March 18]] &ndash; [[Anne Robert Turgot]], French statesman (b. [[1727]])
* [[April 23]] &ndash; [[James Abercrombie (British Army general)|James Abercrombie]], British general (b. [[1706]])
* [[April 28]] &ndash; [[Cornelius Harnett]], American delegate to the Continental Congress (b. [[1723]])
* [[May 3]] &ndash; [[Charles Roe]], English businessman (b. [[1715]])
* [[May 16]] &ndash; [[Giacomo Puccini (senior)]], Italian composer (b. [[1712]])
[[File:Condorcanqui.jpg|thumb|right|110px|[[Túpac Amaru II]]]]
* [[May 18]] &ndash; [[Túpac Amaru II]], Peruvian indigenous rebel leader (b. [[1742]])
* [[May 18]] &ndash; [[Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua]], Peruvian indigenous rebel leader (b. [[1745]]) 
* [[May 27]] &ndash; [[Giovanni Battista Beccaria]], Italian physicist (b. [[1716]])
* [[May 30]] &ndash; [[John Conder]], Independent English minister at Cambridge (b. [[1714]])
* [[July 18]] &ndash; Padre [[Francisco Garcés]], Spanish missionary (killed) (b. [[1738]])
* [[July 23]] &ndash; [[John Joachim Zubly]], Swiss-born Continental Congressman (b. [[1724]])
* [[August 16]] &ndash; [[Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec]], French soldier and diplomat (b. [[1719]])
* [[September 7]] &ndash; [[Lord Richard Cavendish (1752–1781)]], second son of William Cavendish (b. [[1752]])
* [[September 11]] &ndash; [[Johann August Ernesti]], German theologian and philologist (b. [[1707]])<ref>{{cite book | last = Klemme | first = Heiner | title = The Bloomsbury dictionary of eighteenth-century German philosophers | publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing Plc | location = New York | year = 2016 | isbn = 9781474255981 | page=189}}</ref>
* [[September 12]] &ndash; [[Peter Scheemakers]], Flemish sculptor (b. [[1691]])
* [[September 28]] &ndash; [[William Nassau de Zuylestein, 4th Earl of Rochford]], British diplomat, statesman (b. [[1717]])
* [[October 16]] &ndash; [[Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke]], British naval officer (b. [[1705]])
* [[November 4]] 
** [[Johann Nikolaus Götz]], German poet (b. [[1721]])<ref>{{EB1911|wstitle=Götz, Johann Nikolaus}}</ref>
** [[Charles Morris (surveyor general)|Charles Morris]], Canadian judge (b. [[1711]])
* [[November 21]] &ndash; [[Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas]], French statesman (b. [[1701]])
* [[December 2]] &ndash; [[Zenón de Somodevilla, 1st Marqués de la Ensenada]], Spanish noble (b. [[1702]])
* [[December 30]] &ndash; [[John Needham]], British biologist and priest (b. [[1713]])
* December &ndash; [[Juan Montón y Mallén]], composer (b. {{Circa|1730}})<ref>Antonio Ezquerro Esteban, ''Música instrumental en las catedrales españolas en la época ... ''- 2004 - Page 47 Institució Milà i Fontanals. Departament de Musicologia "En Diciembre de 1781 había fallecido el maestro de capilla de la Catedral de Segovia (que antes lo fuera de Albarracín), Juan Montón y Mallén. Al año siguiente se eligió ahí para cubrir la vacante a Pedro Aranaz y Vides, ..."</ref>
=== Date unknown ===
* [[Samuel Conrad Schwach]], Norwegian newspaper publisher (b. {{Circa|1731}})<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kalleklev |first1=Katrine |title=Samuel Conrad Schwach |url=https://snl.no/Samuel_Conrad_Schwach |website=Store norske leksikon |access-date=26 October 2024 |language=no |date=18 June 2024}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |title=Blair's Chronological Tables |author1=John Blair |author-link=John Blair (priest) |author2=J. Willoughby Rosse|location= London |publisher=[[Henry George Bohn|H.G. Bohn]] |year=1856 |via=Hathi Trust |chapter-url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/loc.ark:/13960/t6349vh5n?urlappend=%3Bseq=696 |chapter=1781 |hdl=2027/loc.ark:/13960/t6349vh5n?urlappend=%3Bseq=696 }}

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[[Category:1781| ]]