Dashed left edge = started before October 1708 ·
Dashed right edge = ongoing beyond October 1708
Events in October 1708 6
1649 – 1708John Blow (1649-1708)Died 1 October 1708, aged 59English composer and organist of Westminster Abbey, Blow taught and mentored Henry Purcell and composed sacred anthems and the masque Venus and Adonis, among the earliest English operas. He held posts as organist to the Chapel Royal and composer to the court. He was buried near Purcell in Westminster Abbey.
1653 – 1708Prince George of Denmark (1653-1708)Died 28 October 1708, aged 55Husband and consort of Queen Anne of Great Britain, Prince George served as Lord High Admiral and generally supported his wife's reign without seeking political power of his own. His death left Anne, who had no surviving children, increasingly isolated in the final years before her own death. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
1659 – 1708David Gregory (1659-1708)Died 10 October 1708, aged 49Scottish mathematician and astronomer, Gregory held the Savilian Chair of Astronomy at Oxford and was an early and influential promoter of Isaac Newton's physics. He wrote widely used textbooks on geometry, optics, and astronomy. He was a nephew of mathematician James Gregory, credited with early work on calculus and the reflecting telescope.
1666 – 1708Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708)Died 7 October 1708, aged 41The tenth and last human Guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa order and codified the Sikh scripture as the eternal Guru Granth Sahib. He was fatally wounded by assassins sent by a local Mughal-allied chief and died of his injuries in Nanded. His teachings and the institutions he established remain central to Sikh identity worldwide.
1708Battle of LesnayaRussian forces destroy a Swedish relief corpsRussian troops under Peter the Great intercepted and defeated a Swedish army led by Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt that was bringing supplies and reinforcements to Charles XII's main force. The defeat deprived the Swedish invasion of Russia of crucial provisions and artillery. Historians regard the battle as a decisive precursor to the Russian victory at Poltava the following year.
1708 – 1777Albrecht von Haller (1708-1777)Died 12 December 1777, aged 69Swiss anatomist, physiologist, and poet often regarded as the founder of modern experimental physiology, known for his detailed studies of the nervous and circulatory systems. He also produced an enormous body of botanical and bibliographic work, cataloguing thousands of plant species. His textbook Elementa Physiologiae Corporis Humani remained influential for decades.