• January 9 - Philip Astley[?] stages the first modern circus (London).
• May 10 - John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for the The North Briton[?] severely criticizing King George III. This action provokes rioting in London.

Births

• January 7 - Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples and Spain (+ 1844)
• January 28 - King Frederick VI of Denmark
• February 12 - Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (+ 1835)
• March 4 - August Friedrich Wilhelm Holtzhausen[?], engineer (+ 1827).
• March 21 - Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, French mathematician and physicist
• May 17 - Caroline of Brunswick, Queen-Consort of King George IV of the United Kingdom
• May 20 - Dolley Madison, First Lady of the United States (+ 1849)
• November 21 - Friedrich Schleiermacher, German theologian

Deaths