1696 in England

Events from the year 1696 in England.

Incumbents

January
- Great Recoinage of 1696: The Parliament of England passes the Recoinage Act.
- Colley Cibber's play Love's Last Shift is first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.
27 January – the ship HMS Royal Sovereign (formerly HMS Sovereign of the Seas, 1638) catches fire and burns at Chatham, after 57 years of service.
15 February – a Jacobite assassination attempt against King William III is foiled.^[1]
March – Habeas Corpus suspended during a Jacobite invasion scare.^[2]
April – window tax introduced.^[2]
May – Great Recoinage of 1696: Shortage of silver coinage results in the guinea being officially revalued at 21 shillings, instead of 30.^[2]
21 November – John Vanbrugh's play The Relapse, or Virtue in Danger first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.^[2]

Edward Lloyd (coffeehouse owner) probably begins publication of Lloyd's News, a predecessor of Lloyd's List, in London.
Poets Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady publish New Version of the Psalms of David ("Tate and Brady"), a metrical psalter.

27 June – William Pepperrell, colonial soldier (died 1759)
14 July – William Oldys, antiquarian and bibliographer (died 1761)
12 August – Maurice Greene, composer (died 1755)
13 October – John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, statesman and writer (died 1743)
22 December – James Oglethorpe, general and founder of the state of Georgia as a colony (died 1785)

18 March – Robert Charnock, conspirator (born c. 1663)
30 April – Robert Plot, naturalist (born 1640)
28 May – William Gregory, politician and judge (born 1625)
30 May – Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell, First Lord of the Admiralty (born 1638)
24 June – Philip Henry, minister (born 1631)
11 July – William Godolphin, politician (born 1635)
13 September – Caleb Banks, politician (born 1659)
8 December – Charles Porter, English-born judge (born 1631)
12 December – John Hampden (1653–1696), politician (born 1653)

^ Moody, T. W.; et al., eds. (1989). A New History of Ireland. 8: A Chronology of Irish History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-821744-2.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 200–201. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
^ Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 287. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.