A king in person leads an allied army against the French on the river Main — the last time a British sovereign does so (1743)
The Battle of Dettingen, in the War of the Austrian Succession
Monarchs · Hanoverian
George II
1683–1760
House of Hanover — the Jacobite defeat and the Seven Years' War
In office: 1727–1760
George II was the last British sovereign born abroad and the last to lead an army in the field. His long reign spanned Walpole's supremacy, the final Jacobite rising and its destruction at Culloden, the loss of eleven days to the Gregorian calendar, and the astonishing run of victories in 1759 that won Canada and India for Britain.
How to spot them
- ▸Born in Hanover; the last British monarch to command troops in battle, at Dettingen in 1743
- ▸His wife Caroline of Ansbach was the political brain of the reign; his son Frederick the family enemy
- ▸Walpole, then the Pelhams, then Pitt the Elder
- ▸Died at Kensington Palace in 1760 and was the last sovereign buried in Westminster Abbey
In the reign
A smuggling captain exhibits his severed ear to the Commons and a war with Spain follows (1739)
The War of Jenkins' Ear, named by Carlyle a century later
A young prince lands in the Hebrides, takes Edinburgh, and reaches Derby before turning back (1745)
The Forty-Five, led by Charles Edward Stuart
The last pitched battle fought on British soil, on a moor near Inverness (1746)
Culloden, 16 April 1746, won by the Duke of Cumberland
Britain changes calendars and eleven days vanish from September (1752)
The Calendar (New Style) Act; 2 September was followed by 14 September
A national museum founded by act of parliament on a physician's collection of curiosities (1753)
The British Museum, founded on the collection of Sir Hans Sloane
An admiral is shot on his own quarterdeck for failing to relieve Minorca (1757)
Admiral John Byng; Voltaire's Candide says the English shoot an admiral from time to time to encourage the others
A year of victories at Quebec, Quiberon Bay and Minden gives its name to a patriotic song about a wonderful year (1759)
The Annus Mirabilis of 1759; Wolfe died taking Quebec
Quick-fire facts
- •Born at Herrenhausen in Hanover, he was the last British monarch born outside Britain
- •Married Caroline of Ansbach in 1705; she acted as regent four times and died in 1737
- •He quarrelled bitterly with his father and, in turn, with his own son Frederick, Prince of Wales
- •Frederick died in 1751, traditionally after being struck by a cricket ball, so the throne passed to his son George III
- •At Dettingen in 1743 his horse bolted and he fought on foot, sword drawn, aged 59
- •The Jacobite threat of 1745 prompted public singing of God Save the King at Drury Lane, the song's rise to national-anthem status
- •Handel's four coronation anthems, including Zadok the Priest, were written for his coronation in 1727 and Zadok has been sung at every coronation since
- •He died on 25 October 1760 of an aortic dissection at Kensington Palace and is the last sovereign buried in Westminster Abbey; the adjoining sides of his and Caroline's coffins were removed so their remains could mingle
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Sources
- The Royal Household — George II (r. 1727-1760)
- J. H. Plumb — The First Four Georges