1772
1772 was a
leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar).
*
February 17 - First partition of
Poland, by
Russia and
Prussia, later including
Austria* May - Watauga Association formed in East
Tennessee as the first independent Anglo-American government.
*
June 9 - British vessel
Gaspee is burned off of
Rhode Island.
*
June 22 -
Lord Mansfield delivers the decision that leads to the end of slavery in
England.
*
August 5 -
First Partition of Poland begins.
*
August 21 - The coup d'etat by King
Gustav III is completed by adopting a new
Constitution, ending
half a century of parliamentary rule in
Sweden and making him an
enlightened despot.
*
September 1 -
Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa founded in
San Luis Obispo, California.
*
November 2 -
American Revolutionary War:
Samuel Adams and
Joseph Warren form the first
Committee of Correspondence.
*
March 10 -
Friedrich von Schlegel, German poet (d.
1829)
*
April 7 -
Charles Fourier, French philosopher (d.
1837)
*
April 19 -
David Ricardo, British economist (d.
1823)
*
May 2 -
Novalis, German poet (d.
1801)
*
May 20 -
William Congreve, British rocket pioneer (d.
1828)
*
May 22 -
Ram Mohan Roy, Hindu religious and social reformer (d.
1833)
*
August 2 -
Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon-Condé, duc d'Enghien (d.
1804)
*
August 15 -
Johann Nepomuk Mälzel, German inventor (d.
1838)
*
August 24 - King
William I of the Netherlands (d.
1843)
*
October 21 -
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet and philosopher, (d.
1834)
*
October 25 -
Geraud Duroc, French general (d.
1813)
*
November 18 -
Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, German prince (d.
1806)
*
Tuanku Imam Bonjol, Indonesian religious and military leader (d.
1864)
*
February 8 -
Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales (b.
1719)
*
February 18 -
Johann Hartwig Ernst, Count von Bernstorff, Danish statesman (b.
1712)
*
March 21 -
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, French cartographer (b.
1703)
*
March 22 -
John Canton, English physicist (b.
1718)
*
March 26 -
Charles Pinot Duclos, French writer (b.
1704)
*
March 29 -
Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish philosopher and mathematician (b.
1668)
*
May 1 -
Gottfried Achenwall, German statistician (b.
1719)
*
May 22 -
Durastante Natalucci, Italian historian (b.
1687)
*
June 15 -
Louis Claude Daquin, French composer (b.
1694)
*
June 18 -
Johann Ulrich von Cramer, German judge and philosopher (b.
1706)
*June 18 -
Gerard van Swieten, Dutch-born physician (b.
1700)
*
August 31 -
William Borlase, English naturalist (b.
1695)
*
September 30 -
James Brindley, British canal builder (b.
1716)
*
October 7 -
John Woolman, American Quaker preacher and abolitionist (b.
1720)
*
October 8 -
Jean Joseph de Mondonville, French violinist and composer (b.
1711)
*
November 10 -
Pedro Antonio Joaquim Correa da Serra Garção, Portuguese poet (b.
1724)
*
November 19 -
William Nelson, American colonial governor of Virginia (b.
1711)
*
Madhavrao Peshwa, ruler of India (b.
1745)
