January 13 - Sentenced conspirators of the Tavora affair are executed
January 29 - After a month's absence, Elizabeth Canning returns to her mother's home in London and claims that she was abducted. Following criminal trial causes uproar.
Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus on 1st May, adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature as the formal start date of the scientific classification of plants