1759 Calendar

January 5, 1759 – George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis.

January 11, 1759 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first American life insurance company is incorporated.

January 15, 1759 – The British Museum opens.

May 1, 1759 – Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood pottery company in Great Britain.

July 25, 1759 – French and Indian War: in Western New York, British forces capture Fort Niagara from the French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé.

August 1, 1759 – Seven Years’ War: The Battle of Minden, an allied Anglo-German army victory over the French. In Britain this was one of a number of events that constituted the Annus Mirabilis of 1759 and is celebrated as Minden Day by certain British Army regiments.

August 19, 1759 – Battle of Lagos Naval battle during the Seven Year’s War between Britain and France.

September 18, 1759 – The British capture Quebec City.

November 25, 1759 – An earthquake hits the Mediterranean destroying Beirut and Damascus and killing 30,000-40,000.

December 31, 1759 – Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.

January 25, 1759 – Robert Burns, Scottish poet (d. 1796)

January 31, 1759 – François Devienne, French composer (d. 1803)

February 15, 1759 – Friedrich August Wolf, German archaeologist (d. 1824)

February 20, 1759 – Johann Christian Reil, German physician, founder of psychiatry (d. 1813)

May 28, 1759 – William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1806)

July 19, 1759 – Seraphim of Sarov, Russian Orthodox Saint (d. 1833)

August 24, 1759 – William Wilberforce, English abolitionist (d. 1833)

October 4, 1759 – Antoine Arbogast, French mathematician (d. 1803)

October 20, 1759 – Chauncey Goodrich, American politician (d. 1815)

October 25, 1759 – William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, British politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1834)