1670 in England

Incumbents

• Monarch – Charles II
• Parliament – Cavalier

  Events

• 1 June – the secret treaty of Dover is signed between King Charles II of England and France.
• 8 July O.S. – Spain recognises Jamaica and the Cayman Islands as English possessions by the Treaty of Madrid.
• 18 August – John Dryden is appointed as historiographer royal.
• 20 September – production of Mrs Aphra Behn's first play, The Forced Marriage, at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre by the Duke's Company, with Thomas Betterton in the lead.
• 9 November – Bushel's Case establishes that members of a jury may not be punished for delivering a verdict according to their conscience even if contrary to the view of the judge.
• 21 December – John Coventry is maimed for making a joke about the King, resulting in passing of the Maiming Act, making lying in wait to maim anyone a felony.
• Rock salt is discovered near Northwich in Cheshire.

  Births

• 24 January – William Congreve, playwright
• 10 April – Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwich,
• 23 April – Cassandra Willoughby, Duchess of Chandos, historian
• 8 May – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, soldier
• 19 July – Richard Leveridge, bass and composer
• 21 August – James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, illegitimate son of King James II
• 27 September – Sir Thomas Stanley, 4th Baronet, Member of Parliament
• 4 December – John Aislabie, politician and director of the South Sea Company
• 28 December – Algernon Capell, 2nd Earl of Essex
• James Annesley, 3rd Earl of Anglesey
• Laurence Echard, historian
• Abigail Masham, Baroness Masham, royal favourite

  Deaths

• 3 January – George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, soldier
• 21 January – Claude Duval, highwayman, hanged
• 15 March – John Davenport, clergy
• 5 May – Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 1st Baronet, lawyer and politician
• 30 June – Princess Henrietta Anne Stuart
• 4 July – Christopher Hatton, 1st Baron Hatton, Royalist
• 16 September – William Penn, admiral
• 21 November – Sir Walter Yonge, 2nd Baronet, Member of Parliament
• Gilbert Mabbot, licenser of the press