People in History: 1700s

British naturalist: sailed with Captain Cook on his first voyage, advised George III in the development of Kew Gardens; had a genus of flowering plants named after him			Joseph Banks
Published four volumes of commentaries, 1765–9 – a comprehensive description of the doctrines and principles of English law			Sir William Blackstone
First rose to prominence as Sailing Master on Captain Cook's third and last voyage (1776–80); Captain of HMS Bounty, at the time of the mutiny (1789); fourth Governor of New South Wales (1806–8)			William Bligh
American frontiersman, 1734–1820: in 1775 he blazed a trail through the Cumberland Gap in the Appalachian Mountains, from North Carolina and Tennessee into Kentucky, which paved the way for the first westward migration of settlers and would become known as the Wilderness Road; fought as a militia officer in the War of Independence			Daniel Boone
Birmingham manufacturer: went into business with James Watt in 1772, manufacturing and marketing Watt's steam engine; after Watt's previous partner, John Roebuck, was unable to pay a debt to him, he accepted Roebuck's share of Watt's patent as settlement			Matthew Boulton
Influential English landscape designer, 1716–83: began as an undergardener to William Kent at Stowe, Buckinghamshire			Capability Brown
British admiral, executed in 1757 for neglect of duty in failing to relieve the naval base of Minorca from a French siege (satirised by Voltaire in Candide, where an unnamed English admiral was shot "to encourage the others")			John Byng
Italian adventurer, spy, violinist, librarian: a spy in the Venetian police service (1774–82); librarian to Count Waldstein at his castle of Duchov (Dux), Bohemia (from 1785), where he died in 1798; his memoirs were published 1826–38			Giovanni Jacopo Casanova de Seingalt
Master's mate on board HMS Bounty, and leader of the mutineers (1789)			Fletcher Christian
Founder of British India (mid–18th century)			Robert Clive
Succeeded Warren Hastings as Governor–General of India (1786–93 – after Sir John Macpherson stood in for 19 months; also served for 67 days in 1805)			Lord (Charles) Cornwallis
Developed the process of smelting iron with coke, rather than charcoal, at Coalbrookdale (he didn't set up the works, but he worked there as ironmaster)			Abraham Darby I
Built the world's first iron bridge, 1791			Abraham Darby III
English physician and philosopher, 1732–1802: outlined an evolutionist theory that anticipated both Jean–Baptiste Lamarck and his grandson Charles (but tended to Lamarck's interpretation); his third son Robert married Susannah, the daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, and they were Charles's parents			Erasmus Darwin
Famous London courtesan of the 1760s – immortalised in a nursery rhyme			Kitty Fisher
Statesman and orator, 1749–1806; became an MP aged 19; Britain's first Foreign Secretary; campaigned against slavery, supported the American and French revolutions			Charles James Fox
The first US Postmaster General (1775–6); appeared on the 5 cent stamp when the US post office issued its first stamps, in 1847 (George Washington was on the 10 cent stamp)			Benjamin Franklin
Founded one of the world's most successful brands when he bought an abandoned premises on St. James's Gate in 1759 (aged 33 or 34)			Arthur Guinness
American Founding Father, first Secretary to the Treasury: born in the West Indies, served as secretary and aide–de–camp to Washington in the War of Independence; died in 1804 as a result of a duel with his bitter political rival, vice–president Aaron Burr; appears on the $10 note, and was the subject of a hit musical, first performed in 2015			Alexander Hamilton
British ambassador to Naples, 1764–1800 (his wife Emma was Nelson's mistress – a relationship he tolerated, being much older than she)			Sir William Hamilton
American merchant and founding father: known for his prominent and stylish signature on the Declaration of Independence, which has resulted in his name being used as slang for a signature			John Hancock
English clock maker, subject of the biography Longitude (1996); produced the first marine chronometers (from 1730), now housed at Greenwich Royal Observatory			John Harrison
First Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and thereby the first de facto Governor–General of India (1774–85); impeached for corruption in 1788, but acquitted in 1795			Warren Hastings
Prison reformer (1726–90), name taken by a present–day charity (the Howard League for Penal Reform)			John Howard
Third President of the USA (1789–93) and principal author of the Declaration of Independence			Thomas Jefferson
Captain of the brig Rebecca, whose ear was severed by the Spanish "guarda–costa" Julio Leon Fandino, who boarded the brig as it returned from Jamaica in 1731			Robert Jenkins
Captain of USS Bonhomme Richard, captured HMS Serapis off Flamborough Head in 1779; when asked (not altogether seriously) to surrender, early in the engagement, famously replied "I have not yet begun to fight"			John Paul Jones
Attorney and poet; composed The star–spangled banner; died 1743			Francis Scott Key
Highwayman under whose influence Dick Turpin is said to have turned from his life of petty crime to a career as a highwayman; died in 1737, aged 24 or 25, after being shot (possibly by Turpin) in a robbery that went wrong			Tom King
Young Scots woman, risked her life to save Prince Charles Edward Stuart after his defeat at Culloden (1745)			Flora MacDonald
Pioneer of hypnotism, born 1734			Friedrich (Franz) Mesmer
English road builder, 1717–1810, blinded by smallpox aged six – known as "Blind Jack"			John Metcalf
Moderate leader in the early days of the French Revolution: supported a constitutional monarchy along British lines; after his death, he was found to have been in the pay of Louis XVI and France's enemies in Austria. Name Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, better known by his title ...			Comte de Mirabeau
Created Duke of Bronte by the King of Naples in 1799; married Mrs. Frances (Fanny) Nesbit, a widow			Horatio Nelson
Became the first scientist to be knighted, in 1705 – although it was for his work at the Royal Mint, where he was Master from 1699 to 1727; said by his niece to have lost £20,000 in the South Sea Bubble			Isaac Newton
English–born American political theorist: author of Common Sense (1776), which inspired the declaration of independence from Britain; considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States; later wrote in support of the French Revolution, in The Rights of Man (1791) and The Age of Reason (1793)			Thomas Paine
French army pharmacist, who campaigned for the use of the potato as food for humans across Europe (many believed that it caused leprosy, among other things, and it was banned by the French parliament in 1748, thought only fit for pigs); also established the first mandatory smallpox vaccination campaign, and pioneered the extraction of sugar from sugar beets; his name was given to various dishes that include potatoes			Antoine–Auguste Parmentier
British naval commander, founded the colony of New South Wales			Sir Arthur Phillip
"The last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century" (according to Wikipedia), "often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown"; coined the term 'landscape gardening'; worked with John Nash; preferred more formal landscaping than Brown (Wordsworth Dictionary of Biography)			Humphry Repton
Carried the news of the British advance from Boston to Lexington and Concord at the start of the American War of Independence			Paul Revere
US seamstress, credited with designing the Stars & Stripes			Betsy Ross
Irish–born botanist whose collection (bequeathed to the nation in 1753) laid the foundation for the British Museum, the British Library and the Natural History Museum			Sir Hans Sloane
Used the name Betty Burke (while escaping to Skye after Culloden, helped by Flora McDonald, 1746)			Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie)
Foreign Minister in post–revolutionary France, whose name (the first part of the double–barrelled surname) became a byword for a crafty, cynical diplomat			Charles Maurice de Talleyrand–Périgord
Irish revolutionary leader: died in mysterious circumstaces, a week after being sentenced to death for his part in the unsuccessful Rebellion of 1798; widely believed to have committed suicide while in prison			(Theobald) Wolfe Tone
Born at the Blue Bell Inn (later the Rose and Crown) in Hempstead, Essex; baptised on 21 September 1705; suspected of murder (of which he was guilty), fled to Yorkshire in 1737, assuming the alias John Palmer; hanged in York on 7 April 1739 after being found guilty on two counts of horse theft			Richard (Dick) Turpin
Became the subject of legend after his execution, romanticised as dashing and heroic in English ballads and popular theatre of the 18th and 19th centuries, and later in film and television
Known for a fictional 200–mile overnight ride from London to York on his horse Black Bess – a story that was made famous by the Victorian novelist William Harrison Ainsworth, almost 100 years after his death
Irish–born British army general, best known for the construction of roads, bridges and barracks in Scotland between 1725 and 1737			George Wade
Arguably the most famous potter of all time: born Burslem, Staffordshire in 1730; set up in business 1754, established the Etruria Works in 1769 (named after a region of ancient Italy, known for its artistic products); had his first major commercial success with Black Basalt ware, inspired by Etruscan archaeological finds; persuaded Queen Charlotte to let him name a range of pottery that she had bought "Queen's Ware"; made the Green Frog Service for Empress Catherine II of Russia (Catherine the Great), now on display in the Hermitage Museum, 1774; most famous today for jasperware, with overlaid white decoration on a variety of colours, the best–known of which is pale blue. Grandfather of Charles Darwin (his daughter married the son of Erasmus Darwin), and great–great–grandfather of Ralph Vaughan Williams. A prominent anti–slavery campaigner, he produced the famous medallion with the inscription "Am I not a man and a brother?" in 1787. Had his leg amputated, probably as a result of a childhood smallpox episode which affected his knee; died in 1795, aged 64			Josiah Wedgwood

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People in History: 1700s