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| align="center" colspan=2 | Years: 1766 1767 1768 - 1769 - 1770 1771 1772
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| align="center" colspan=2 | 1740s 1750s - 1760s ''' - 1770s 1780s 1790s
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| align="center" | - 18th Century ''' - 19th Century
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1769 was a Common Year Starting On Sunday (see link for calendar).
Events
- Baron Wolfgang Von Kempelen exhibits the " Mechanical Turk ", a chess-playing machine
- Famine in Bengal kills 10 million people, a third of the population, in the worst natural disaster in human history (in terms of lives lost).
- The Maharajah Of Mysore forces the British to agree a treaty of mutual assistance in view of the famine, but the British East India Company increases its demands on the Bengali people to keep profits up.
- David Garrick holds the first Shakespeare Festival at Stratford-upon-Avon .
- Richard Arkwright invents the Spinning Frame .
- The city of Brescia , Italy is devastated when the Church of San Nazaro, near Venice , is struck by Lightning . The resulting fire ignites 200,000 lb (90,000 kg) of Gunpowder being stored there, causing a massive explosion which destroys one sixth of the city and kills 3,000 people. The Disaster prompts the Roman Catholic Church to abandon their religious objection to using Lightning Rod s to protect their property.
January
February
March
April
August
September
October
November
December
Ongoing events
Births
- January 10 - Michel Ney , French marshal (d. 1815 )
- March 1 - François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers , French general (d. 1796 )
- March 10 - Joseph Williamson, philanthropist and builder of the Williamson's Tunnels (d. 1840 )
- March 23 - William Smith , English geologist and cartographer (d. 1839 )
- March 29 - Nicolas Jean De Dieu Soult , French marshal (d. 1851 )
- April 3 - Christian Gunther Von Bernstorff , Danish and Prussian statesman and diplomat (d. 1835 )
- April 11 - Jean Lannes , French marshal (d. 1809 )
- April 13 - Thomas Lawrence , English painter (d. 1830 )
- May 1 - Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke Of Wellington , British general and Prime Minister Of The United Kingdom (d. 1852 )
- May 6 - Ferdinand III, Grand Duke Of Tuscany (d. 1824 )
- June 18 - Viscount Castlereagh , British statesman, diplomat, and soldier (d. 1822 )
- August 15 - Napoleon Bonaparte , Emperor of France (d. 1821 )
- September 14 - Karl Salomo Zachariae Von Lingenthal , German jurist (d. 1843 )
- October 6 - Isaac Brock , British general and administrator (d. 1812 )
- December 13 - James Scarlett Abinger , English judge (d. 1844 )
- James Dadford , English canal engineer
Deaths
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