Events from the year 1745 in Great Britain.
Incumbents
Monarch – George II
Prime Minister – Henry Pelham (Whig) Parliament – 9th
Events
30 April–11 May – War of the Austrian Succession: British forces defeated at the Battle of Fontenoy. 16 June – King George's War: British capture Cape Breton Island in North America from the French. 26 June – the earliest known women's cricket match, at Gosden Common in Surrey. 9 July (20 July NS) – Jacobite rising: The Du Teillay, carrying the Young Pretender Charles Edward Stuart from France to Scotland, and her escort L'Elisabeth engage with HMS Lion in the English Channel. 23 July – Jacobite rising: Charles Stuart lands on Eriskay in the Hebrides in Scotland. 15–26 August – War of the Austrian Succession: By the Convention of Hanover, King George II makes peace overtures to Prussia and ends support for Austria. 16 August – Jacobite rising: A Jacobite victory at Highbridge Skirmish. 19 August – Jacobite rising: Charles Stuart raises his standard at Glenfinnan. 11 September – Jacobite rising: Jacobites enter Edinburgh. 16 September – Jacobite rising: "Canter of Coltbrigg": The 13th and 14th Dragoons flee Jacobites near Edinburgh. 17 September – Jacobite rising: in Edinburgh, Charles Stuart proclaims his father James Francis Edward Stuart as James VIII of Scotland. 21 September – Jacobite rising: Government forces are defeated at the Battle of Prestonpans. 28 September – the song later to become the British national anthem "God Save the King" is first performed at the Drury Lane Theatre in London in a setting by Thomas Arne. 13–15 November – Jacobite rising: Jacobites besiege and capture Carlisle. December – Jacobite rising: Jacobite garrison in Carlisle surrenders to Hanoverian forces under Prince William, Duke of Cumberland. 4 December – Jacobite rising: Jacobite forces reach Derby causing panic in London. 6 December – Jacobite rising: Jacobite forces decide to retreat to Scotland. 18 December – Jacobite rising: A Jacobite victory at the Clifton Moor Skirmish, the last action between two military forces on English soil. 23 December – Jacobite rising: A Jacobite victory at the Battle of Inverurie.
Undated
West towers of Westminster Abbey completed. The term "middle class" is first used.
Publications
Henry Fielding edits the pro-government publication The True Patriot.
Births
23 January – William Jessop, civil engineer (died 1814) February – Samuel Hearne, explorer, fur-trader, author and naturalist (died 1792) 2 February Hannah More, religious writer, Romantic poet and philanthropist (died 1833) John Nichols, printer and antiquary (died 1826) 14 February – Lady Sarah Lennox, courtier (died 1826) 20 February – Henry James Pye, poet laureate (died 1813) 4 March – Charles Dibdin, composer (died 1814) 12 May – William Creech, Scottish bookseller and Lord Provost of Edinburgh (died 1815) 13 July – Robert Calder, admiral (died 1818) 20 July – Henry Holland, architect (died 1806) 20 or 21 August – Francis Asbury, bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church (died 1816 in the United States) 17 October – William Scott, 1st Baron Stowell, judge and jurist (died 1836) 7 November – Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, member of the royal family (died 1793) 10 December – Thomas Holcroft, writer (died 1809)
Deaths
26 February – Henry Scudamore, 3rd Duke of Beaufort (born 1707) 18 March – Robert Walpole, first Prime Minister of Great Britain (born 1676) 28 May – Jonathan Richardson, portrait painter, writer on art and collector (born 1667) 30 September – Sir John Baird, 2nd Baronet, Scottish politician (born 1686) 19 October – Jonathan Swift, Irish satirist (born 1667) 16 November – James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, exiled Irish-born statesman and soldier (born 1665) John Freame, banker (born 1669)