August 15: Acadians.

Events of 1755

January–June

• January 25 – Moscow University is established on Tatiana Day.

• February 13 – The kingdom of Mataram on Java is divided in two, creating the sultanate of Yogyakarta and the sunanate of Surakarta.

• February 20 – General Braddock lands in Virginia to take command of the British forces against the French in North America.

• April 15 – A Dictionary of the English Language is published by Samuel Johnson (he had begun the work 9 years earlier, in 1746).

July–December

Nov. 1: Lisbon earthquake.

• July 9 – French and Indian War – Braddock Expedition: British troops and colonial militiamen are ambushed and suffer a devastating defeat inflicted by French and Indian forces. During the battle, British General Edward Braddock is mortally wounded. Colonel George Washington survives.

• July 17 – In a convoy of ships from Great Britain, returning to India for the East India Company, the lead ship Dodington wrecks at Port Elizabeth, losing a chest of gold coins from Robert Clive, worth L33,000. In 1998, 1,400 coins are offered for sale, and in 2002 a portion is given to the South African government.

• July 25 – The decision to deport the Acadians is made during meetings of the Nova Scotia Council meeting in Halifax. From September 1755 to June 1763 the vast majority of Acadians are deported to one of the following British Colonies in America: Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina and Georgia. Contrary to popular belief, no Acadians are sent to Louisiana. Those sent to Virginia are refused and then sent on to Liverpool, Bristol, Southampton and Penn-ryn (Falmouth) in England. In 1758 the Fortress of Louisbourg falls and all of the civilian population of Isle Royal (Cape Breton Island) and Isle St. Jean (Prince Edward Island) are repatriated to France. Among them were several thousand Acadians who had escaped the deportation by fleeing into those areas. Very few Acadians successfully escape the deportation and do so only by fleeing into some of the northern sections of present day New Brunswick. The event inspires Longfellow to write the epic poem Evangeline.

• August – The Great Expulsion of the Acadians begins.

• November 1 – 1755 Lisbon earthquake: In Portugal, Lisbon is destroyed by a massive earthquake and tsunami, killing 60,000–90,000 people.

• November 18 – An earthquake occurs in the vicinity of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, causing extensive damage.

December 2:Eddystone
fire.

• November 25 – King Ferdinand IV of Spain granted the Beaterio de la Compania de Jesus or now known as the Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM) a royal protection.

• December 2 – The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire.

Undated

• Wolsey, the clothes manufacturer, is established in Leicester; the business celebrates its 250th anniversary in 2005.

• Construction of the Puning Temple complex in Chengde, China is complete, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor.

• Artemia salina is first described.

Ongoing events

• French and Indian War (1754–1763)

Births

• January 11 – Alexander Hamilton, first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (most cited date of birth) (d. 1804)

• January 25 – Paolo Mascagni, Anatomist (d. 1815)

• February 11 – Albert Christoph Dies, German composer (d. 1822)

• April 3 – Simon Kenton, Frontiersman; Revolutionary Militia General (d. 1836)

• April 16 – Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun, French painter (d. 1842)

• May 21 – Alfred Moore, American judge (d. 1810)

• June 6 – Nathan Hale, American Revolutionary War captain, writer and patriot (d. 1776)

• June 30 – Paul François Jean Nicolas Barras, French politician (d. 1829)

• September 9 – Benjamin Bourne, American politician (d. 1808)

• September 24 – John Marshall, American jurist (d. 1835)

• November 2 – Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (d. 1793)

• November 12 – Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general (d. 1813)

• November 17 – Louis XVIII of France

• November 17 – Charles Manners-Sutton, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1828)

Deaths

• February 10 – Montesquieu, French writer (b. 1689)

• February 11 – Francesco Scipione, marchese di Maffei, Italian archaeologist (b. 1675)

• March 2 – Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French writer (b. 1675)

• April 6 – Richard Rawlinson, English minister and antiquarian (b. 1690)

• June 26 – Iyasu II of Ethiopia, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. c. 1723)

• July 13 – Edward Braddock, British general (b. c. 1695)

• August 13 – Francesco Durante, Italian composer (b. 1684)

• September 8 – Ephraim Williams, American philanthropist (b. 1715)

• September 9 – Johann Lorenz von Mosheim, German historian (b. 1694)

• October 16 Gerard Majella, Catholic saint (b. 1725)

• October 22 – Elisha Williams, American rector of Yale College (b. 1694)

• November 25 – Johann Georg Pisendel, German musician (b. 1687)

• December 1 – Maurice Greene, English composer (b. 1696)