1748 in Great Britain
Events from the year 1748 in Great Britain. Incumbents Monarch – George II Prime Minister – Henry Pelham (Whig) Parliament – 10th Events 28 March – a fire in the City of London causes over a million pounds worth of damage. August – Admiral Edward Boscawen commands a Royal Navy siege of Pondicherry. 18 October – the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession, by which Madras in India is restored to British rule in exchange for the fortress of Louisbourg in Canada with France. Undated Adam Smith begins to deliver public lectures in Edinburgh. Henry Fielding organises the forerunner of the Bow Street Runners, with eight men at first. First uniforms of the Royal Navy introduced for commissioned officers and midshipmen. John Fothergill's pamphlet Account of the Sore Throat attended with Ulcers contains the first description of diphtheria. Holywell Music Room, Oxford, the first purpose-built concert hall in Europe, is opened. Publications While in debtor's prison, John Cleland writes the erotic novel Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure), the first part of which is published anonymously on 21 November. David Hume's philosophical treatise An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. Samuel Richardson's anonymous epistolary novel Clarissa.