D. George I. was the son of the Electress Sophia, daughter of Elizabeth. (Elizabeth was the daughter of James I.) B. at Hanover, 1660. M. Sophia Dorothea, of Zell. Dd. near Osnabruck, June 10, 1727. R. 13 years (1714 to 1727).
1714. The king arrived in England. Lord Townshend appointed chief minister.
1715. Oxford, Bolingbroke, and Ormond impeached for their conduct in negotiating the Peace of Utrecht. The first was committed to the Tower; the other two escaped to the Continent, and were attainted. Riot Act passed. REBELLION IN SCOTLAND, in behalf of the Pretender (son of James II.), headed by the earl of Mar. Battle of Sheriffmuir, Perthshire (Nov. 13), in which the royalists gained a slight advantage. The Pretender landed at Peterhead (Dec.), but, finding his cause hopeless, he re-embarked (Feb., 1716).
1716. The earls of Derwentwater and Kenmure, two of the rebels, executed. SEPTENNIAL BILL passed for extending the duration of parliaments from three to seven years. General Stanhope (afterwards created earl) and the earl of Sunderland became chief ministers of the crown.
1718. Quadruple Alliance between England, France, the emperor, and Holland, to resist the aggressive policy of Cardinal Alberoni, the chief minister of Spain. Sir George Byng defeated the Spanish fleet off Cape Passaro, in Sicily (Aug. 11).
1720. The South Sea Company was invested with certain exclusive commercial privileges, and authorized to take up the whole of the National Debt, so as to become the sole public creditor.
1721. Robert Walpole and Lord Townshend became the king’s principal ministers.
The £100 shares of the company, by fraudulent means, were raised to more than £1000; but the bubble soon burst, and ruined thousands of families. The financial credit of the nation was restored by the judicious measures of Robert Walpole.
1723. Atterbury, bishop of Rochester, banished for taking part in a Jacobite conspiracy. Bolingbroke allowed to return.
1725. The earl of Macclesfield, lord chancellor, impeached for selling offices in Chancery, and misappropriating the money of suitors, widows, and orphans. He was convicted, and fined £30,000.