1730

Events of 1730

January - June

• January 29 - Anna Ivanovna (Anna of Russia) becomes tsarina, following the death of her cousin, Tsar Peter II.
• May 15 - Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, retires from his role in the government of Great Britain, leaving Robert Walpole as sole and undisputed leader of the Cabinet (i.e., prime minister). In the new Walpole Ministry, Sir William Strickland, 4th Baronet, becomes Secretary at War, and Henry Pelham is Paymaster of the Forces. Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington briefly becomes Lord Privy Seal.

July - December

• July 12 - Pope Clement XII succeeds Pope Benedict XIII as the 246th pope.
• September 17 - Mahmud I (1730-1754) succeeds Ahmed III (1703-1730) as Ottoman Emperor.

Undated

• The Glasite sect is formed.

Ongoing

• Second Fox War (1728-1733)

Births

• March 7 - Baron de Breteuil, last prime minister of the French monarchy (d. 1807)
• April 16 - Henry Clinton, British general (d. 1795)
• April 26 - John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1805)
• May 13 - Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1782)
• June 21 - Motoori Norinaga, Japanese philologist and scholar of the kokugaku school (d. 1801)
• July 12 - Josiah Wedgwood, English potter (d. 1795)
• July 26 - Charles Messier, French astronomer (d. 1817)
• September 17 - Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian army officer (d. 1794)
• November 23 - William Moultrie, American general (d. 1805)
• December 25 - Philip Mazzei, Italian physician and friend of Thomas Jefferson (d. 1816)
• December 30 - William Hamilton, British diplomat and antiquary (d. 1803)
• date unknown
• John Cook, American farmer and President of Delaware (d. 1789)
• John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, (Lord Dunmore) (d. 1809)

Deaths

• January 1 - Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, English politician (b. 1647)
• January 1 - Samuel Sewall, English-born judge (b. 1652)
• January 29 - Tsar Peter II of Russia (b. 1715)
• February 21 - Pope Benedict XIII (b. 1649)
• March 9 - Frances Talbot, Countess of Tyrconnel (b. c. 1647)
• March 20 - Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (b. 1692)
• March 23 - Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) (b. 1654)
• April - Yinxiang, 1st Prince Yi, Qing dynasty prince (b. 1686)
• May 30 - Arabella Churchill, English mistress of James II of England (b. 1648)
• July 7 - Olivier Levasseur, French pirate
• July 18 - François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, French soldier (b. 1644)
• September 27 - Laurence Eusden, English poet (b. 1688)
• October 12 - Frederick IV, King of Denmark and Norway (b. 1671)
• October 15 - Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, French explorer (b. 1658)
• October 23 - Anne Oldfield, English actress (b. 1683)
• November 21 - François de Troy, French portrait artist