Historical Events
Wedgwood Blue
Jan 1 English potter Josiah Wedgwood writes that he has developed his famous 'wedgwood blue' color in a letter to Thomas Bentley [1]
- Jan 11 Francis Salvador becomes 1st Jew elected to office in America (SC)
- Jan 17 9 old women burnt as witches for causing bad harvests in Kalisk, Poland
- Jan 17 Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play "The Rivals" premieres in London
- Jan 18 The West India Committee founded in London by London sugar merchants and Caribbean planters. Initially instrumental in promoting slavery, later aided campaign to end slavery. [1]
- Jan 22 Marshal Oscar von Lubomirski confiscates goods being sold by Jews in settlements on the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland
Famous Birthdays
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775-1854)
Jan 27 German philosopher (Views on Christianity), born in Leonberg, Württemberg, Holy Roman Empire
- Jan 30 Walter Savage Landor, English poet and writer (Imaginary Conversations), born in Warwick, England (d. 1864)
Famous Deaths
- Jan 8 John Baskerville, English printer and type designer (printer to the University of Cambridge), dies at 68
- Jan 10 Jemeljan Pugatshov, Russian kosak leader/"Tsar Peter III", dies
- Jan 11 Prithvi Narayan Shah, began the unification of modern Nepal (b. 1723)
- Jan 11 Yemelyan Pugachov, Don Cossack rebel, executed by tsarist Russia
- Jan 13 Johann Georg Walch, German theologian, dies at 81
- Jan 15 Giovanni Battista Sammartini, Italian composer, musician, and choirmaster, dies at about 74 (born c. 1700)
- Jan 25 Georg Friedrich Schmidt, German engraver and etcher (court artist for King Frederick of Prussia and Empress Elizabeth of Russia), dies at 63
