Death of John Wesley
Dies in London
Permanent historical records · Updated 2026-11-03
1791 in Great Britain
Explore 32 historical events and records for Great Britain in 1791.
Historical records for Great Britain in 1791
Sorted by month and day. Records with no month are shown last. Showing 32 of 32 unique records.
32Unique records
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26Named events on this page
20Named people on this page
7Places on this page
March
April
Slave Trade Bill
Introduces a parliamentary bill to abolish the slave trade
Resignation of Francis Godolphin Osborne
Resigns as Foreign Secretary amid the Russian armament crisis
Slavery
Wilberforce introduces the first Parliamentary Bill to abolish the slave trade with a closely-reasoned speech which he used to present the facts and evidence that had been gathered, and which lasted four hours. After two evenings of debate, the bill was easily defeated by 163 votes to 88
June
Foreign Secretary
Appointed Foreign Secretary
Home Secretary
Appointed Home Secretary
Constitutional Act
His ministry passes the Constitutional Act dividing Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada
Captain
Promoted captain in the British Army
Captain
Appointed Captain
July
Priestley Riots
Rioters destroy Hutton's property because of his dissenting and reform associations.
Priestley Riots
His home and laboratory are attacked during Birmingham riots against dissenters and reformers.
September
Birth of Michael Faraday
Birth of Michael Faraday
December
Foreign Secretary of Great Britain
Appointed Foreign Minister
Birth of Charles Babbage
Birth of Charles Babbage
Other events (month unknown)
Abolitionist Verse
His anti-slavery poem The Negro's Complaint circulates in abolitionist campaigns
Appeal from New to Old Whigs
Burke published An Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs, defending his interpretation of Whig constitutional principles.
Battle of Seringapatam
Defeats Sultan Tippu
Break with Charles James Fox
Burke's disagreement with Charles James Fox over France became a public rupture within the Whig opposition.
Death of John Wesley
Death of John Wesley
Foreign Secretary of Great Britain
Appointed Foreign Minister
French Revolution Poem Printed
Blake's poem The French Revolution reached proof stage, although it was not generally distributed.
Home Secretary of Great Britain
Appointed Home Secretary
Home Secretary of Great Britain
Appointed Home Secretary
Homer Translations Published
Cowper published English blank verse translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey after years of work.
Reform of Methodism
After Wesleys death Methodists become nonconformist
Response to Talleyrand
Begins developing arguments that will lead to A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Retired Cat Poem Appears
Cowper's The Retired Cat appeared in his literary output, turning an animal incident into humorous moral poetry.
Revises Educational Ideas
Wollstonecraft continued refining her arguments for intellectual independence through reviews and political writing.
Rights and Representative Government
Paine argued that legitimate government derives from the rights and consent of living people rather than hereditary privilege.
Rights of Man
Publication of "The Rights of Man", 1st part
Rights of Man Public Debate
Paine defended the principles of the French Revolution against conservative criticism in a widely debated political work.
Slavery
Helps to distribute anti-slavery newspapers by the Correspondence Committees
How these records were prepared
Generated from the World History Database historical_events table. Identical display records are collapsed; descriptions otherwise retain the stored text. Coverage and source quality vary. Check primary and specialist sources before citing individual historical claims.