Timeline September 1736

Events in September 1736 4

• 1686 – 1736 Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) Died 16 September 1736, aged 50 Fahrenheit was a physicist and instrument maker who developed an accurate mercury thermometer and the temperature scale that bears his name. Working in the Dutch Republic, he standardized thermometer construction well enough that his instruments were sought across Europe. His temperature scale remained the primary standard in English-speaking countries for over two centuries.
• 1736 Porteous Riots Erupt in Edinburgh A mob storms the Tolbooth and lynches a city guard captain After Captain John Porteous ordered his guardsmen to fire on a crowd at a public execution and was then controversially reprieved, an Edinburgh mob broke into the Tolbooth prison on the night of 7 September 1736. The crowd seized Porteous and hanged him in the Grassmarket. The episode became one of the most notorious incidents of civil unrest in eighteenth-century Scotland.
• 1736 – 1793 Jean Sylvain Bailly (1736-1793) Died 12 November 1793, aged 57 An astronomer and the first mayor of Paris, Jean Sylvain Bailly had presided over the Estates-General and administered the Tennis Court Oath in 1789. He was guillotined during the Terror after being implicated in a massacre of protesters.
• 1736 Gin Act Takes Effect in Britain Steep licensing fees spark widespread evasion and riots Britain's Gin Act, which imposed heavy duties and licensing fees on the sale of gin, came into force on 29 September 1736. The law was intended to curb the consumption of cheap spirits blamed for rising crime and public disorder, but it proved almost impossible to enforce. Widespread evasion, bootlegging, and street protests undermined the act, which was effectively repealed within a few years.