Events of 1737

January–June

• May 28 – The planet Venus passes in front of Mercury. The event is witnessed during the evening hours by the amateur astronomer John Bevis at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. As of 2006, it is still the only such planet/planet occultation that has been directly observed.

• June 21 – In Britain the Theatrical Licensing Act requires plays to be submitted to the Lord Chamberlain for censorship.

• June 30 – Russo-Turkish War, 1735-1739: Russian forces under Field Marshal Munnich storm the Ottoman fortress of Ochakov and take prisoner 4,000 Turks.

July–December

• July – Austria enters the Russo-Turkish War.

• September 20 – Runner Edward Marshall completes his journey in the Walking Purchase, forcing the cession of of Lenape-Delaware tribal land to the Pennsylvania Colony.

• October – The first national stage in Sweden opens when the play Den Svenska Sprätthöken is performed in the native language, by the first native actors, on the stage of Bollhuset in Stockholm.

• October 7 – A tropical cyclone strikes Bengal, India killing approximately 300,000.

• October 16 – An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 9.3 occurs off the shore of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. Tsunamis up to 60m (200 ft) high followed in the Pacific ocean.

• November 4 – The Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is inaugurated in Naples, Italy.

Undated

• Benjamin Franklin creates the Philadelphia Police Force – the first city-paid force.

• The Georg August University of Göttingen is founded.

• The direct male line of the Medici family becomes extinct with the death of Gian Gastone de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.

• Richmond, Virginia is founded.

• Our Lady of Guadalupe is designated the patron saint of Mexico City.

• The oldest existing English language newspaper in the world, The (Belfast) News Letter, is founded in Ireland.

• Lancaster County Prison is first constructed.

• Settling of:

• *North Adams, Massachusetts

• *New Salem, Massachusetts

• *Hardwick, Massachusetts

• *Westminster, Massachusetts

Births

• January 12 – John Hancock, American statesman and revolutionary (d. 1793)

• January 29 – Thomas Paine, British-born American patriot and pamphleteer (d. 1809)

• April 27 – Edward Gibbon, English historian (d. 1794)

• May 2 – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1805)

• June 20 – Tokugawa Ieharu, Japanese shogun (d. 1786)

• August 5 – Johann Friedrich Struensee, Danish royal physician (d. 1772)

• August 29 – John Hunter, second governor of New South Wales (d. 1821)

• September 9 – Luigi Galvani, Italian physician and physicist (d. 1798)

• September 14 – Michael Haydn, Austrian composer (d. 1806)

• September 15 – Miklós Küzmics, Hungarian Slovenes writer, Catholic priest (d. 1804)

• September 19 – Charles Carroll of Carrollton, only Roman Catholic signer of the American Declaration of Independence (d. 1832)

• December 26 – Prince Josias of Coburg, Austrian general (d. 1815)

• date unknown – Frances Abington, English actress (d. 1815)

Deaths

• January 17 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (b. 1662)

• January 24 – William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1657)

• January 29 – George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, British soldier (b. 1666)

• February 14 – Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot of Hensol, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1685)

• March 16 – Benjamin Wadsworth, American President of Harvard University (b. 1670)

• May 4 – Eustace Budgell, English writer (b. 1686)

• May 10 – Emperor Nakamikado of Japan (b. 1702)

• July 9 – Gian Gastone de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1671)

• September 7 – John Hickman, convicted forger (b. 1693)

• September 27 – John Sidney, 6th Earl of Leicester, English privy councillor (b. 1680)

• November 20 – Caroline of Ansbach, queen of George II of Great Britain (b. 1683)

• December 11 – John Strype, English historian and biographer (b. 1643)

• December 18 – Antonio Stradivari, Italian luthier (b. 1644)

• December 19 – James Sobieski, Crown Prince of Poland (b. 1667)

• December 27 – William Bowyer, English printer (b. 1663)