1724
Events
January–June
- January 15 - King Philip V of Spain abdicates the throne in favour of his 16-year-old son Louis I.
- January 22 - Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, Spanish Captain general of the Río de la Plata, forces the Portuguese to abandon their fortified settlement at what will become the city of Montevideo in Uruguay.
- January 28 - Saint Petersburg State University is established in Russia.
- February 8 - Catherine I of Russia is officially named czarina by her husband, Peter the Great.
- February 20 - The premiere of Giulio Cesare, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, takes place in London.
- April 7 - The premiere performance, of the St John Passion of Johann Sebastian Bach, takes place at St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig.
- May 29 - Pope Benedict XIII succeeds Pope Innocent XIII, as the 245th pope.
- June 23 - The Treaty of Constantinople is signed, partitioning Persia between the Ottoman Empire and Russia.
July–December
- July 27 - Peter the Wild Boy is captured near Helpensen in Hanover.
- August 31 - Louis I of Spain dies of smallpox, aged 17, after a reign of 7 months, and his father Philip V resumes the throne.
- November 11 - Joseph Blake , English highwayman, is hanged in London.
- November 16
- * Highwayman Jack Sheppard is hanged in London.
- * Willem Mons, lover of Catherine I of Russia, is executed, and his head preserved in alcohol.
Date unknown
- China expels foreign missionaries.
- Blenheim Palace construction is completed in England. It is presented as a gift from the nation to the Duke of Marlborough, for his involvement in the Battle of Blenheim in 1704.
- The Austrian Netherlands agree to the Pragmatic Sanction.
- Shah Mahmud Hotaki of Afghanistan goes insane.
- Longman, the oldest surviving publishing house in England, is founded.
Births
- January 12 - Frances Brooke, English writer
- February 16 - Christopher Gadsden, American statesman
- February 28 - George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, British field marshal
- February 29 - Eva Marie Veigel, Austrian-born English ballet dancer, known as La Violette
- March 6 - Henry Laurens, political leader during the American Revolutionary War, father of John Laurens
- March 27 - Jane Colden, American botanist
- April 12 - Lyman Hall, American signer of the Declaration of Independence
- April 22 - Immanuel Kant, German philosopher
- May 7 - Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser, Alsatian-born Austrian general
- May 19 - Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, British admiral, politician
- June 8 - John Smeaton, English civil engineer
- June 15 - Countess Palatine Maria Franziska of Sulzbach, German aristocrat
- July 2 - Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, German poet
- July 10 - Eva Ekeblad, Swedish scientist
- July 31 - Noël François de Wailly, French lexicographer
- August 23 - Abraham Yates, American Continental Congressman
- August 25 - George Stubbs, English painter
- August 27 - John Joachim Zubly, Swiss-born Continental Congressman
- September 3 - Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, British soldier and Governor of Quebec
- October 31 - Christopher Anstey, English writer
- December 12 - Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, British admiral
- December 13 - Franz Aepinus, German scientist
- December 18 - Louise of Great Britain, queen of Frederick V of Denmark
- December 24 - Johann Conrad Ammann, Swiss physician, naturalist
- December 25 - John Michell, English scientist and geologist
- December 30 - Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, French painter
- Date unknown
- * Marie Anne Victoire Pigeon, French mathematician
- * James MacLaine, Irish highwayman
Deaths
- January 20 - William Lowndes, English politician
- February 12 - Elkanah Settle, English writer
- February 19 - Pieter Schuyler, British colonial military leader, acting governor of New York
- March 4 - Princess Eleonore Juliane of Brandenburg-Ansbach, duchess by marriage of Württemberg-Winnental
- March 7 - Pope Innocent XIII
- March 10 - Urban Hjärne, Swedish chemist
- March 15 - Regent Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours
- March 19 - Lewis Watson, 1st Earl of Rockingham, English politician
- March 31 - Sophia of Saxe-Weissenfels, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst
- April 28 - Streynsham Master, English colonial administrator
- May 3 - John Leverett the Younger, American President of Harvard
- May 21 - Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, English statesman
- June - Magdelaine Chapelain, French fortune teller and poisoner
- June 11 - Ludovico Sabbatini, Italian Roman Catholic priest and saint
- June 5 - Henry Sacheverell, English churchman and politician
- June 24 - Johann Theile, German composer and organist
- July 1 - Johann Homann, German cartographer
- July 2 - Thomas Maule, prominent Quaker in colonial Salem
- July 13 - Sir Richard Levinge, 1st Baronet, British politician
- July 31 - Claude de Ramezay, Canadian politician
- August 2 - Patrick Hume, 1st Earl of Marchmont, Scottish statesman
- August 6 - Samson Wertheimer, European rabbi
- August 21 - Noël Alexandre, French theologian and ecclesiastical historian
- August 24 - Andreas Kneller, German organist and composer
- August 31 - King Louis I of Spain
- September 6 - Jonathan Singletary Dunham, prominent early American settler of Woodbridge Township
- October 2 - François-Timoléon de Choisy, French writer
- October 18 - Jean de Hautefeuille, French cleric, scientist
- October 29 - William Wollaston, English philosophical writer
- October 30 - Marie of Lorraine, French princess
- November 7 - John Kyrle, British philanthropist
- November 11 - Joseph "Blueskin" Blake, English highwayman
- November 14 - John Murray, 1st Duke of Atholl
- November 16 - Jack Sheppard, British criminal
- November 18 - Bartolomeu de Gusmão, Portuguese naturalist
- November 24 - Ernst Ludwig I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
- November 28 - Robert Marsham, 1st Baron Romney, British politician
- December 27 - Thomas Guy, English philanthropist
