1698 in England

Events from the year 1698 in England.

Incumbents

4 January – the Palace of Whitehall is destroyed by fire.^[1]
11 January–21 April – Czar Peter I of Russia visits England as part of his Grand Embassy, making a particular study of shipbuilding.^[2]
March – Jeremy Collier's pamphlet A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage is published.
24 June – abolition of the Royal African Company's monopoly is confirmed under terms of the Trade with Africa Act 1697, opening the slave trade to any merchant.
25 July – engineer Thomas Savery obtains a patent for a steam pump.^[3]
July–August – general election results in victory for the New Country Tories.^[4]
11 October – Treaty of the Hague signed between France, England and Holland.^[5]
14 November – first Eddystone Lighthouse illuminated.^[6]

Piracy Act ("An Act for the more effectuall Suppressions of Piracy") passed.
Popery Act enforces penalties against Roman Catholic priests.
Reverend Thomas Bray founds the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.^[4]
Thermal springs discovered at Matlock Bath in Derbyshire.^[7]
The widow Bourne sets up the business which becomes Berry Brothers and Rudd in London. They will still be operating as wine merchants in the 21st century.^[8]
Shepherd Neame Brewery established under this name in Faversham.

24 January – William Holder, music theorist (born 1616)
7 February – Richard Adams, theologian (born c. 1626)
29 April – Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, First Lord of the Admiralty (born 1655)
25 August – Fleetwood Sheppard, courtier and literary wit (born 1634)
3 September – Sir Robert Howard, playwright, poet and politician (born 1626)
13 September (bur.) – John Huddleston, Benedictine priest (born 1608)
1 October – Richard Frankland, dissenter (born 1630)
Unknown date – Nicholas Barbon, economist (born c. 1640)

^ Weinreb, Ben; Hibbert, Christopher (1995). The London Encyclopaedia. Macmillan. p. 287. ISBN 0-333-57688-8.
^ "January 28th". Chambers' Book of Days. Archived from the original on 17 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
^ Carlyle, E. I. (2004). "Savery, Thomas (1650?–1715)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24733. Retrieved 2011-11-05. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
^ ^a ^b Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 200–201. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
^ Cates, William L. R. (1863). The Pocket Date Book. Chapman and Hall.
^ Majdalany, Fred (1959). The Red Rocks of Eddystone. London: Longmans. p. 49.
^ "Matlock & Matlock Bath: Water Cures". Matlock & Matlock Bath. The Andrews Pages. Archived from the original on April 14, 2012. Retrieved 2010-06-02.
^ "Berry Bros. & Rudd History – Key Dates". Berry Bros. & Rudd. Archived from the original on 2010-07-21. Retrieved 2010-11-05.