Richard Hoare moves into Barn Elms, beginning a long period of close involvement of the famous banking family in the affairs of Barnes

Benjamin Franklin's chopped-up snake, urging union of the colonies with the caption 'Join or Die', is the first American political cartoon

Quaker minister John Woolman publishes the first part of Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes, an essay denouncing slavery

Scottish chemist Joseph Black identifies the existence of a gas, carbon dioxide, which he calls 'fixed air'

George Washington kills ten French troops at Fort Duquesne, in the first violent clash of the French and Indian war

Benjamin Franklin proposes to the Albany Congress that the colonies should unite to form a colonial government

The British colonies negotiate with the Iroquois at the Albany Congress, in the face of the French threat in the Ohio valley

Francesco Guardi, previously a painter of figures, begins to specialize in view of Venice, his native city

A British force under Edward Braddock lands in America to provide support against the French in the Ohio valley

Samuel Johnson publishes his magisterial Dictionary of the English Language

The first Conestoga wagons are acquired by George Washington for an expedition through the Alleghenies

Johann Joachim Winckelmann publishes a book on Greek painting and sculpture which introduces a new strand of neoclassicism

The army led by Edward Braddock and George Washington is ambushed at Fort Duquesne and Braddock is killed

Garrick's Temple, designer unknown but possibly modelled on Lord Burlington's temple at Chiswick House, is built by David Garrick to entertain friends and house his Shakespeare mementos

122 people die after being locked overnight in a small room in Calcutta, in an incident that becomes known as the Black Hole of Calcutta

The French in America, under the marquis of Montcalm, begin two highly successful years of campaigning against the British

In what becomes known as the Diplomatic Revolution, two of Europe's long-standing rivals - France and Austria - sign a treaty of alliance

Frederick the Great again precipitates a European conflict, marching without warning into Saxony and launching the Seven Years' War

By the time of his death the prolific output of Domenico Scarlatti includes 555 sonatas, all but a few for his own instrument, the harpsichord

Walpole founds a printing press, the Strawberry Hill Press.

Admiral John Byng is shot on the deck of a ship in Portsmouth harbour for 'neglect of duty' in failing to relieve Minorca

Robert Clive defeats the nawab of Bengal at the battle of Plassey, and places his own man on the throne

Robert Adam returns to Britain after two years in Rome with a repertoire of classical themes which he mingles to form a new British neoclassicism

William Pitt the Elder becomes secretary of state and transforms the British war effort against France in America

After the death of Prince Frederick in 1751, his widow Princess Augusta establishes the botanical gardens at Kew.