1749

Events

• While in debtor's prison, John Cleland writes Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure). Released from prison, the book was published in London. Immediately, the Church of England asked the British Secretary of State to "stop the progress of this vile Book, which is an open insult upon Religion and good manners." As a result, Cleland was arrested and charged with "corrupting the King's subjects."
• April 27 - The first official performance of George Frideric Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks finished early due to the outbreak of fire.
• May 19 - King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River.
• July 9 - Naval settlement of Halifax, Nova Scotia founded as British answer to Louisbourg.
• September 15 - According to mathematical calculations, Pluto moved outside Neptune's orbit to remain the outermost planet until 1979.

Births

• January 13 - Friedrich Müller, painter, narrator, lyricist and dramatist (d. 1825)
• January 17 - Vittorio Alfieri, Italian dramatist (d. 1803)
• January 24 - Charles James Fox, English politician (d. 1806)
• January 29 - King Christian VII of Denmark (d. 1808)
• March 9 - Honore Mirabeau, French politician (d. 1791)
• March 10 - Lorenzo da Ponte, Italian librettist (d. 1838)
• March 23 - Pierre Simon de Laplace, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1827)
• May 17 - Edward Jenner, English physician (d. 1823)
• April 11 - Adelaide Labille-Guiard, French portrait painter (d. 1803)
• June 15 - Georg Joseph Vogler, German composer (d. 1814)
• August 28 - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer (d. 1832)
• 30 September - Comte Siméon Joseph Jérôme, French jurist and politician
• November 23 - Edward Rutledge, American statesman (d. 1800)
• December 17 - Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer (d. 1801)
• Abraham Gottlob Werner, German geologist (d. 1817)

Deaths

• February 8 - Jan van Huysum, Dutch painter (b. 1682)
• May 24 - Graf Valentin Potocki, Polish nobleman
• June 19 - Ambrose Philips, English poet (b. 1675)
• July 3 - William Jones, Welsh mathematician (b. 1675)
• July 12 - Charles de la Boische, Marquis de Beauharnois, Governor of New France
• September 10 - Emilie du Chatelet, French mathematician and physicist (b. 1706)
• September 14 - Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham, English soldier and politician (b. 1675)
• October 4 - Franz Freiherr von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (b. 1711)
• December 5 - Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye, French-Canadian explorer and trader (b. 1685)
• December 19 - Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (b. 1672)