1630s in England

Events from the1630sinEngland.

Incumbents

• Monarch–Charles I

Events

• 1630
  • 8 April –Winthrop Fleet:The shipArbellaand three others set sail from theSolentwith 400 passengers under the leadership ofJohn Winthropheaded for theMassachusetts Bay Colonyin America as part of thePuritan migration to New England (1620–1640);seven more, with another 300 aboard, follow in the next few weeks. The colonists begin to land atSalemin June and go on to foundBoston.
  • June –Scottish-bornPresbyterianAlexander Leightonis brought beforeArchbishopWilliam Laud'sStar Chambercourt for publishing theseditiouspamphletAn Appeale to the Parliament, or, Sions Plea Against the Prelacy(printed in the Netherlands, 1628). He is sentenced to be pilloried and whipped, have his ears cropped, one side of his nose slit, and his face branded with "SS" (for "sower of sedition" ), to be imprisoned, and be degraded from holy orders.
  • Thomas Middleton's satiricalcomedyA Chaste Maid in Cheapsidepublished posthumously.
  • The central square ofCovent GardeninLondonis laid out and a market begins to develop there.
• 1631
  • 14 May –Mervyn Tuchet, 2nd Earl of Castlehaven,isbeheadedonTower Hill, London,andattaintedforsodomyand for assisting in therapeof his wife following aleading casewhich admits the right of a spouse claiming to be injured to testify against her husband.
  • Poor harvest for second year in a row causes widespread social unrest.
  • Philip Massinger's playBelieve as You Listfirst performed.
  • Publication of the "Wicked Bible"byRobert Barkerand Martin Lucas, the royal printers in London, an edition of theKing James Versionof theBiblein which atypesettingerratumleaves the seventh of theTen Commandments(Exodus 20:14) with the wordnotomitted from the sentence "Thou shalt not commit adultery".Copies are withdrawn and about a year later the publishers are called to theStar Chamber,fined £300 and have their licence to print revoked.
• 1632
  • 15 June –SirFrancis Windebankis made chiefSecretary of State.
  • 20 June – royal charter issued for the foundation ofMarylandcolony;Lord Baltimoreappointed as the first governor.
  • July – portraitistAnthony van Dyck,newly returned to London, is knighted and granted a pension asprincipalle Paynter in ordinary to their majesties.
  • 17 October – the court ofStar Chamberprohibits all "news books" because of complaints fromSpanishandAustriandiplomatsthat coverage in England of theThirty Years' Waris unfair.
  • TheSecond FolioofWilliam Shakespeare's plays published.
  • Publication ofWilliam Prynne'sHistriomastix,an attack on theEnglish Renaissance theatre.
• 1633
  • May – King Charles revives medievalforest lawsto raise funds from fines.
  • 6 August –William LaudbecomesArchbishop of Canterbury.
  • St Paul's, Covent Garden,designed byInigo Jonesin 1631 overlooking hispiazza,opened to worship, the first wholly new church built in London since theEnglish Reformation.
  • John Ford's play'Tis Pity She's a Whorepublished.
  • Earliest surviving edition of theChristopher MarloweplayThe Jew of Maltapublished,around 40 years after its first performance.
  • John Donne's collectedPoemspublished posthumously.
• 1634
  • 22 January –William Davenant's comedyThe Witsfirst performed by theKing's Menat theBlackfriars Theatre,London.
  • 5 May – a royal proclamation confines flying of theUnion Flag(the first recorded reference to it by this name) to the king's ships; English merchant vessels are to fly theflag of England.
  • 7 May – William Prynne sentenced by theStar Chamberto a £5,000 fine, life imprisonment,pilloryingand the loss of part of his ears when hisHistriomastixis viewed as an attack on KingCharles Iand QueenHenrietta Maria.
  • 20 October – King Charles I issues writs to raiseship moneyfrom coastal ports to finance theRoyal Navy.
  • Red Maids' school is founded inBristolfrom the bequest of local merchant and politicianJohn Whitson.AsRedmaids' High Schoolit becomes the oldest surviving girls' school in England.
  • Cornelius Vermuydenbegins the draining ofThe Fensto reclaim farmland.
  • FirstNewmarketGold Cup horse race.
  • John Ford's history playPerkin Warbeckpublished.
  • Thomas Johnsonbegins publishingMercurius Botanicus,including a list of indigenous British plants.
• 1635
  • 4 August – second writ for ship money is issued, extending the payments to inland towns.
  • Peter Paul Rubenspaints the ceiling of theBanqueting House, Whitehall.
  • First secondary school established in theNorth Americancolonies, the English High and Latin School atBoston.
  • FirstGeneral Post Officeopens to the public, atBishopsgate,London.
  • English settlers begin the colonisation ofConnecticut.
• 1636
  • 3 March – a "great charter" to theUniversity of Oxfordestablishes theOxford University Pressas the second of theprivileged presses.
  • 8 September (OS) – New College founded at the English colony ofMassachusetts;later renamed 'Harvard'.
  • 9 October –John Hampdenrefuses to pay ship money after a third writ is issued.
  • Completion of excavation ofOld Bedford River(begun in 1630).
• 1637
  • 18 February –Eighty Years' War:Battle off Lizard Point:off the coast ofCornwall,aSpanishfleet intercepts an Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by 6 warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.
  • 30 April – King Charles issues a proclamation attempting to stememigrationto theNorth Americancolonies.
  • 27 June – English merchants led by captainJohn Weddellestablish the first trading settlement atCanton.
  • 30 June –William Prynneis branded as a seditious libeller, and sentenced topilloryingand mutilation.
  • 13 October –First-rateship of the lineHMSSovereign of the Seasis launched atWoolwich Dockyardat a cost of £65,586, adorned from stern to bow with gilded carvings.
  • Member of ParliamentJohn Hampdencontinues to refuse to pay ship money although a 7-5 majority verdict among a group of judges supports its legality.
• 1638
  • 18 April – flogging ofJohn Lilburnefor refusing to swear an oath when brought before the court ofStar Chamberfor distributing Puritan publications.
  • 12 June – trial of John Hampden for non-payment of ship money concludes.
  • 21 October –The Great ThunderstormatWidecombe-in-the-Moor.
  • TheQueen's HouseatGreenwich,designed byInigo Jonesin 1616 as the first major example ofclassical architecturein the country, is completed forHenrietta Maria.
  • John Milton'sLycidaspublished.
• 1639
  • 26 January –King Charles Iraises (with difficulty) an army and begins to march north to fight theScottishCovenantersin theFirst Bishops' War.
  • 27 February – Charles denounces the Covenanters.
  • 21 April –William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and SeleandRobert Greville, 2nd Baron Brookeimprisoned for refusing to fight against the Covenanters.
  • 25 April – Charles issues a proclamation promising to pardon rebels.
  • 14 May – Charles issues a further proclamation promising to settle the Covenanters' grievances and not to invade Scotland.
  • 19 June –Treaty of Berwicksigned between the King and the Covenanters, ending theFirst Bishops' War.
  • 15 September –Battle of the Downsbetween theDutchandSpanishin English waters.
  • 24 November (4 December inGregorian calendar) – Lancashire astronomersJeremiah HorrocksandWilliam Crabtreeare the first and only scientific observers of atransit of Venus,predicted by Horrocks.

Births

• 1630
  • 28 April –Charles Cotton,poet (died1687)
  • 29 May – KingCharles II of England(died1685)
  • 1 August –Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh,statesman (died1673)
  • October –John Tillotson,Archbishop of Canterbury(died1694)
  • 1 November –Richard Frankland,nonconformist (died1698)
  • c. 1630/31 –Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton,politician (died1699)
• 1631
  • 1 January –Katherine Philips,poet (died1664)
  • 20 February –Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds,statesman (died1712)
  • 19 August –John Dryden,writer (died1700)
  • 4 November –Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange(died1660)
  • 14 December –Lady Anne Finch Conway,philosopher (died1679)
• 1632
  • 29 August –John Locke,philosopher (died1704)
  • 20 October –Christopher Wren,architect, astronomer and mathematician (died1723)
  • 17 December –Anthony Wood,antiquarian (died1695)
• 1633
  • 23 February –Samuel Pepys,civil servant and diarist (died1703)
  • 26 March –Mary Beale,portrait painter (died1699)
  • 14 October – KingJames II of England(died1701)
  • 11 November –George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax,writer and statesman (died1695)
  • Sir Edward Seymour, 4th Baronet,politician (died1708)
• 1635
  • 18 July –Robert Hooke,scientist (died1703)
  • 22 November –Francis Willughby,biologist (died1672)
  • 28 December –Princess Elizabeth of England(died1650)
• 1636
  • 29 June –Thomas Hyde,orientalist (died1703)
  • 29 September –Thomas Tenison,Archbishop of Canterbury(died1715)
• 1637
  • March –Anne Hyde,first wife of KingJames II(died1671)
  • 17 March –Princess Anne(died1640)
• 1638
  • 24 January –Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset,poet and courtier (died1706)
  • 6 May –Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell,First Lord of the British Admiralty (died1696)
  • 24 December –Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu,diplomat (died1709)
  • William Sacheverell,statesman (died1691)
• 1639
  • 7 March –Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond(died1672)
  • c. April –Martin Lister,naturalist and physician (died1712)
  • 8 July –Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester(died1660)
  • 29 September –Lord William Russell,politician (died1683)

Deaths

• 1630
  • 26 January –Henry Briggs,mathematician (born1556)
  • 12 February –Fynes Moryson,traveller and writer (born1566)
  • 26 February –William Brade,composer (born1560)
  • 10 April –William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke,courtier (born1580)
  • 17 September –Thomas Lake,statesman (born1567)
• 1631
  • 1 January –Thomas Hobson,carrier and origin of the phrase "Hobson's choice"(born1544)
  • 7 February –Gabriel Harvey,writer (born c.1552)
  • 31 March –John Donne,writer and prelate (born1572)
  • 6 May –Robert Bruce Cotton,politician (born1570)
  • 21 June –John Smith of Jamestown,soldier and colonist (born1580)
  • 23 December –Michael Drayton,poet (born1563)
• 1632
  • 22 June –James Whitelocke,judge (born1570)
  • 23 August –Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset(born1590)
  • 25 August –Thomas Dekker,dramatist (born c.1572)
  • 27 November –John Eliot,statesman (born1592)
• 1633
  • 1 March –George Herbert,poet and orator (born1593)
  • 5 August –George Abbot,Archbishop of Canterbury(born1562)
  • 10 August –Anthony Munday,writer (born1553)
  • 8 October(bur.)–Robert Browne,religious reformer (born c. 1550)
  • 14 November –William Ames,philosopher (born1576)
• 1634
  • 12 May –George Chapman,author (born c.1559)
  • 25 June –John Marston,dramatist (born1576)
  • 9 August –William Noy,jurist (born1577)
  • 3 September –Edward Coke,colonial entrepreneur and jurist (born1552)
  • 25 December –Lettice Knollys,noblewoman (born1543)
• 1635
  • March –Thomas Randolph,poet (born1605)
  • 27 March –Robert Naunton,politician (born1563)
  • 14 November –Old Tom Parr,supposed oldest living man (allegedly born1483)
  • 25 November –John Hall,physician and son-in-law of William Shakespeare (born1575)
• 1636
  • 18 April –Julius Caesar,judge (born c.1557)
  • Probable date – SirAnthony Shirley,traveller (born1565)
• 1637
  • 6 August –Ben Jonson,writer (born1572)
  • 8 September –Robert Fludd,mystic (born1574)
  • 4 December –Nicholas Ferrar,trader (born1592)
• 1638
  • 14 September –John Harvard,clergyman and colonist (born1607)
• 1639
  • January –Shackerley Marmion,dramatist (born1603)
  • 7 November –Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour,politician (born c.1560)