Events of

January - June

• January 31 - The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
• February 11 - A combined French and Indian force, commanded by Captain Nicholas Antoine Coulon de Villiers, attacks British troops at Grand Pré, Nova Scotia.
• April 9 - The Scottish Jacobite Lord Lovat is beheaded by axe on Tower Hill, London, for high treason (the last man to be executed in this way in Britain).
• May 14 - War of the Austrian Succession - First battle of Cape Finisterre: The British Navy defeats a French fleet.
• June 9 - Emperor Momozono ascends to the throne of Japan, succeeding Emperor Sakuramachi.

July - December

• July 2 - War of the Austrian Succession - Battle of Lauffeld: France defeats the combined armies of Hanover, Great Britain and the Netherlands.
• October - Thomas Herring is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.
• October 25 - War of the Austrian Succession - Second battle of Cape Finisterre: The British Navy again defeats a French fleet.
• November 9 - Rioters in Amsterdam demand governmental reform.
• November 22 - Prince William IV of Orange becomes stadtholder of all the provinces of the United Provinces.
• December 16 - Canter of Coltbrigg - The 13th and 14th Dragoons flee the Jacobites of Charles Edward Stuart.

Undated

• Kandahar is taken by Ahmad Shah Durrani, and becomes the first capital of the newly-independent Afghan State.
• James Lind discovers that citrus fruits prevent scurvy.
• War of the Austrian Succession: Spanish troops invade and occupy the coastal towns of Beaufort and Brunswick in the Royal Colony of North Carolina during what becomes known as the Spanish Alarm. They are later driven out by the local militia.

Ongoing events

• War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748).
• Samuel Johnson begins work on A Dictionary of the English Language.

Births

• January 15 - John Aikin, English doctor and writer (d. 1822)
• January 19 - Johann Elert Bode, German astronomer (d. 1826)
• January 26 - Samuel Parr, English schoolmaster (d. 1825)
• February 19 - John "Walking" Stewart, traveller and philosopher (d. 1822)
• February 21 - Eugenio Espejo, Ecuadorian scientist (d. 1795)
• May 5 - Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1792)
• July 6 - John Paul Jones, American naval captain (d. 1792)
• September 9 - Thomas Coke, first American Methodist Bishop (d. 1814)
• October 8 - Jean-François Rewbell, French politician (d. 1807)
• December 12 - Anna Seward, English writer (d. 1809)
• date unknown
• François Tourte, French musical instrument maker (d. 1835)
• Francis Salvador, American patriot (d. 1776)

See also :Category: 1747 births.

Deaths

• January 16 - Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet (b. 1680)
• March 16 - Christian Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst, father of Catherine II of Russia (b. 1690)
• March 23 - Claude Alexandre de Bonneval, French soldier (b. 1675)
• April 2 - Johann Jacob Dillenius, German botanist (b. 1684)
• April 7 - Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian field marshal (b. 1676)
• April 9 - Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Scottish clan chief (b. c. 1667)
• May 9 - John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and diplomat (b. 1673)
• May 28 - Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, French writer (b. 1715)
• May 31 - Andrei Osterman, Russian statesman (b. 1686)
• June - Nadir Shah, Persian leader (b. 1688)
• June 19 - Alessandro Marcello, Italian composer (b. 1669)
• July 9 - Giovanni Bononcini, Italian composer (b. 1670)
• October 10 - John Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. c. 1674)
• November 17 - Alain-René Le Sage, French writer (b. 1668)
• December 2 - Vincent Bourne, English classical scholar (b. 1695)

See also :Category: 1747 deaths.