1660 in England

Updated on Oct 06, 2024

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See also: Other events of 1660
Centuries: 15th16th17th18th19th Decades: 1640s1650s1660s1670s1680s

Events from the year 1660 which occurred in the Kingdom of England. This is the year of Restoration.

Incumbents

Monarch - (From 29 May) Charles II

Events

1 January

Colonel George Monck with his regiment crosses from Scotland to England at the village of Coldstream and advances towards London in support of English Restoration.

Samuel Pepys begins his diary.

3 February - George Monck and his regiment arrive in London.

February - John Rhodes reopens the old Cockpit Theatre in London, forms a company of young actors and begins to stage plays. His production of Pericles will be the first Shakespearean performance of the Restoration era; Thomas Betterton makes his stage debut in the title rôle.

21 February - Presbyterian Members of Parliament expelled in 1648 are readmitted.

27 February - John Thurloe is reinstated as England's Secretary of State for a short time.

16 March - The Long Parliament disbands.

4 April - Declaration of Breda promises amnesty, freedom of conscience, and army back pay, in return for the Restoration of the Crown.

22 April - General John Lambert, having escaped from imprisonment in the Tower of London and attempted to rekindle the Civil War in favour of the Commonwealth by issuing a proclamation calling on all supporters of the "Good Old Cause" to rally on the battlefield of Edgehill, is recaptured at Daventry by Colonel Richard Ingoldsby.

25 April - The Convention Parliament meets to discuss the Restoration. The House of Lords reconvenes for the first time since its abolition in 1649.

1 May - The Declaration of Breda is presented to the Parliament of England which acknowledges that the lawful government of the nation is by King, Lords and Commons.

8 May - Parliament declares that Charles has been lawful King of England since 1649 and invites him to return.

15 May - John Thurloe is arrested for high treason.

19 May - The newly restored Church of England Convocation of the English Clergy canonises King Charles I as King Charles the Martyr and Saint Charles Stuart, the only saint formally canonised within the Anglican Communion.

25 May - Charles II lands at Dover.

29 May - Charles II arrives in London and assumes the throne, marking the beginning of the English Restoration, commemorated as Oak Apple Day.

25 June - General Post Office established by Charles II.

29 June - John Thurloe is released.

2 August - Charles II issues a grant for two theatre companies: a King's Company under his own patronage, led by Thomas Killigrew, and a Duke's Company under the patronage of his brother, the Duke of York, led by Sir William Davenant.

27 August - The books of John Milton are burnt because of his attacks on King Charles II.

29 August - Indemnity and Oblivion Act passes into law, granting indemnities to those who had been active in the Interregnum (other than regicides).

September - William Juxon appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury.

3 September - James, Duke of York, the King's brother, and Anne Hyde are privately married in London.

25 September - One of the earliest references to tea in England appears in Samuel Pepys's diary.

13 October - Ten regicides who signed the death warrant of Charles I are hanged, drawn and quartered.

25 October - King Charles proposes that some Presbyterian ministers become bishops to heal rifts in the Church; the plan is later abandoned.

11 November - Imprisonment of John Bunyan in Bedford Gaol for preaching without a licence.

19 November - James, Duke of York, as Lord High Admiral of England, proclaims that use of the newly restored Union Jack is reserved to ships of the Royal Navy and merchant ships should fly the Red Ensign.

28 November - At Gresham College, twelve men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Robert Moray, meet after a lecture by Wren and decide to found "a College for the Promoting of Physico-Mathematicall Experimentall Learning" (later known as the Royal Society).

8 December - First actress to appear on the professional stage in a non-singing rôle, as Desdemona in Othello; variously considered to be Margaret Hughes, Anne Marshall or Katherine Corey.

Undated - The Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa is chartered with a monopoly over the English slave trade. It is led by Duke of York.

Publications

Robert Boyle's landmark book New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air and its Effects. The second edition in 1662 will contain Boyle's Law.

John Milton's anti-monarchic tract The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth (editions in February and March).