1700-1799 UK History Trivia

1. John Wesley was born in 1703 and went on to found which religious denomination?

From Quiz Back to the Eighteenth Century

Answer: Methodism

John Wesley was born in Lincolnshire into a religious family (his father was an Anglican minister) and studied theology at Oxford University. His brother, Charles, born four years later followed in his footsteps and the two brothers formed a club, called the Holy Club, at the university where like minded people could meet to study the Bible and pray. From this evolved the Methodist Church, known for its simple forms of dress and lifestyle - Methodists were the leaders of the temperance movement. Charles, the younger Wesley, was a renowned hymn writer - his output exceeding 6,000 - many of which are still sung in the twenty-first century.

From Quiz Georgians on My Mind

Answer: Germany

George I was German (Hanoverian). He came to the throne because he was the closest Protestant relative of Queen Anne. All of her Catholic relatives were excluded from the succession. Had they been allowed to inherit then her half brother, James Stuart, would probably have taken the throne on her death. Many Catholics were very unhappy about the exclusion, and the first of the Jacobite rebellions took place in the reign of George I. This sought to put James Stuart (The 'Old' Pretender) on the throne. George I was not a popular monarch. He was seen as "too German", but despite this most people preferred him to having a Catholic on the throne. Catholicism was associated with monarchic absolutism and arbitrary government.

From Quiz Britain in the Eighteenth Century

Answer: Hanover

For much of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, British history was dominated by fear of Catholicism (and its penchant for supporting monarchic absolutism) and the threat it posed to the established Protestant order. Anne's father James II had converted to Catholicism and been deposed in favour of Anne's elder sister, Mary, and her husband William of Orange. When they died without children the throne passed to Anne, and when she died without leaving any living children Parliament decided it would be better to invite over a distant German relative who was at least Protestant than allow any of her nearer Catholic relations to take the throne.

From Quiz Back to the Eighteenth Century

Answer: Anne

Queen Anne was the last of the Stuarts, the dynasty which began (in England) when James I succeeded the final Tudor monarch, Elizabeth I, in 1603. The Stuarts had a turbulent time, with Charles I being executed and Charles II exiled for many years while Oliver Cromwell was in control. James II was deposed, due to being a Catholic, with the throne passing to his daughters - firstly Mary II, then Anne. Although Anne had numerous pregnancies, they mostly ended in miscarriage or stillbirth. Of the children who were born alive only one reached double figures and he died at the age of eleven. On her death, the throne passed to George I, the first Hanoverian monarch, who was the closest Protestant in the line of succession - Catholics were barred from the throne.

From Quiz Georgians on My Mind

Answer: Zadok the Priest

Although born in Germany Handel settled in London in 1712 and became a naturalised citizen in 1727. He was commissioned to write four pieces for the coronation of King George II, and "Zadok the Priest" is still used at coronations of British monarchs to this day. "Messiah", the oratorio that he wrote in 1742, remains popular and is performed in churches and concert halls all over the United Kingdom, especially at Christmas time. It is probably the one work of his that most people will know something from.

From Quiz Georgians on My Mind

Answer: Be born outside the United Kingdom

Like his father, George I, George II was born in Hanover, in Germany. He came to England at the same time as his father, and was made Prince of Wales. His relationship with his father was not good. He was far more popular with the people; indeed he courted popularity, and George I was rather jealous of this. He also opposed several of his father's policies. His father died during a visit to Hanover, and was buried in Germany. George II decided not to go to his funeral. Rather than being criticised for this many saw it as a declaration of his fondness for England. During his reign the final Jacobite rebellion was crushed at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

From Quiz Back to the Eighteenth Century

Answer: A merchant sea captain

The unfortunate Jenkins was the captain of a ship boarded by Spanish privateers who accused Jenkins of smuggling. Surprisingly, the incident happened in 1731 and it took eight years for the incident to be used an an excuse for hostilities. The purpose of the war was to gain ascendency in the Caribbean, for trading purposes. The war petered out with no overall victor, although British losses were higher than those of the Spanish. The name for the conflict was created by the historian Thomas Carlyle in 1858 and is quirky enough to have stuck.

From Quiz Georgians on My Mind

Answer: Porphyria

Porphyria was not a recognised disease at the time of George III. As well as nausea and pain symptoms include mental disturbance. In the 1960s Ida Macalpine and Richard Hunter put forward the idea that this was the cause of King George's intermittent bouts of madness. This has never been proved, although the idea was hotly debated at the time. A 2010 article in "The Psychologist" throws doubt on the soundness of the research behind the original hypothesis, suggesting that it may have been "selective".

From Quiz Back to the Eighteenth Century

Answer: Dublin

The oratorio was based on the King James Bible and composed by Handel in 1741. The first public performance was on April 13th in 1742, with London having to wait nearly a year to hear it. The work covers the whole of Jesus's life from the prophecy in Isaiah to His resurrection and parts of the Book of Revelation. The most famous pieces from it are probably 'I know that my Redeemer liveth' and the 'Hallelujah' chorus where the audience, by tradition, stands during the performance.

From Quiz Back to the Eighteenth Century

Answer: India

This battle took place during the Seven Years' War, when colonisation was rife. On one side was the East India Company, set up to trade in Asia and the other was the Nawab of Bengal, supported by the French, including the French East India Company, whose ambitions were the same as the British company - to have a monopoly on trade. The major battle was at Palashi, around 100 miles north of Calcutta (now Kolkata), with the name being anglicised to Plassey. Although outnumbered, the British prevailed, took possession of much of the Bengal region, and extended the empire which would last well into the twentieth century. Robert Clive became known as Clive of India and was given a peerage as Baron Clive of Plassey.

From Quiz Georgians on My Mind

Answer: Intolerable Acts

The measures taken were called "Intolerable Acts". They included closing down the port of Boston and imposing a legislature appointed by Britain. The Boston Tea Party took place in 1773, and within a very few years the taxes levied on America without them having any representation in the British parliament, plus the imposition of direct rule, led to the American Revolution. By 1783 George had lost America, the Treaties of Paris had been ratified, and Britain had recognised the independence of the United States of America. John Adams arrived in London in 1785 as the first American Minister (Ambassador) to Britain.

From Quiz Britain in the Eighteenth Century

Answer: Catholics

Lord George Gordon was strongly opposed to proposals for Catholic Emancipation. On 2nd July, 1780, he led a crowd of 50,000 people to the House of Commons to demand the repeal of the 1778 Roman Catholic Relief Act, a law which had lifted certain restrictions on Catholics. This demonstration turned into a riot and over the next five days many Catholic chapels and private houses were destroyed. Other buildings attacked and damaged, including the Bank of England and Newgate Prison. It is estimated that over £180,000 worth of property was destroyed in the riots.

From Quiz Back to the Eighteenth Century

Answer: Victory

HMS Victory was built at Chatham Dockyard on the River Medway, with construction taking just under six years. She became the flagship of Admiral Keppel at the First Battle of Ushant and Admiral Kempenfelt at the Second Battle of Ushant in 1778 and 1781 respectively. In 1979, she took part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent, but is best remembered for being Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. HMS victory is still in commission in the twenty-first century as a museum, located in Portsmouth.

From Quiz Back to the Eighteenth Century

Answer: Cotton

The mill was set up in a small village named Cromford, in Derbyshire. Arkwright had invented a frame for weaving, powered by water, which was too large to be used in the home. Until his invention, spinning and weaving had been a cottage industry, carried out at home, but Cromford Mill became the forerunner of what became the Industrial Revolution, splitting home and workplace. The mill produced cotton. Not only that, Arkwright provided newly built housing for his employees, since the village was not large enough to accommodate the numbers of workers needed. His development also included shops, a public house, places of worship and a school. The complex has been preserved as a museum.

From Quiz Georgians on My Mind

Answer: Beau Brummel

Born in London and educated at Eton and Oxford, George Brummel changed male fashion. Under his influence the knee breeches that had been popular were replaced with long trousers, loose coats with well tailored, close fitting, dark coats. These were accompanied by white shirts, topped off with an ornate cravat. He boasted that it took him five hours to get dressed. He also said that boots should be polished with champagne to achieve a perfect shine. He met the Prince Regent while in the Royal Hussars, and George was instantly drawn to him. He had great influence on him and was made welcome in royal society. His way of dressing was much copied and has come to be referred to as "dandyism". Eventually he and the Prince fell out, Brummel ran up gambling debts and was forced to flee to France, where he died penniless in 1840.

From Quiz Back to the Eighteenth Century

Answer: Vaccination

It's hard to imagine what a leap of faith was required for those who received the first vaccinations, although the disease which Jenner's vaccine protected against was a deadly one - smallpox. Jenner wasn't the first to understand the immunity gained against smallpox by people who caught cowpox, nor that this might protect against the far more serious smallpox, but he was the man whose name is linked to the development of vaccines. Jenner was a doctor in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, a small town in Gloucestershire where he was born and died. Eventually, smallpox would be the first disease to be declared eradicated, but not until 1980.

From Quiz Georgians on My Mind

Answer: Abolition of slavery in most of the British Empire

The slave *trade* had already been forbidden an Act of Parliament in 1807, but slavery itself remained legal in much of the British Empire. In 1833 the Abolition of Slavery Act was passed by Parliament. This was due to the work of William Wilberforce who campaigned for twenty six years to get slavery abolished in the British Empire. Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), St. Helena and the territories of the East India Company were exempt from the new law, and slavery there was not abolished until 1843. King William IV died in 1837, and with his death the Georgian era came to an end. He was succeeded by Queen Victoria, and a new era. Victoria herself was the last of the House of Hanover. Her husband was from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and when their son inherited the throne it was in the name of that house.

This is category 25219

= Top 5% Rated Quiz, Top 10% Rated Quiz, Top 20% Rated Quiz, A Well Rated Quiz
= added recently, = Editor's Pick = FunTrivia Editor = Gold Member
Teachers / educators: FunTrivia welcomes the use of our website and quizzes in the classroom as a teaching aid or for preparing and testing students. See our education section. Our quizzes are printable and may be used as question sheets by k-12 teachers, parents, and home schoolers.

 ·  All questions, answers, and quiz content on this website is copyright FunTrivia, Inc and may not be reproduced without permission. Any images from TV shows and movies are copyright their studios, and are being used under "fair use" for commentary and education.