The American War of Independence 1776-1783 was sparked by the resentment of colonists towards the British. The earliest action was taken in 1773; faced with the imposition of a Government tax on tea, a group of Americans boarded ships carrying tea and threw it into Boston harbour. American independence from the British was finally recognized in 1783.

The Club originally known as the Literary Club, was an informal group founded by Joshua Reynolds and Samuel Johnson in the winter of 1763-4. The nine original members included Oliver Goldsmith and Edmund Burke; James Boswell and David Garrick were later elected members.

The Jacobite Rebellion 1745-6 stemmed from the determination of many Stuart loyalists to restore their king to the throne of England and Scotland. Charles Stuart, nicknamed Bonnie Prince Charlie, built up an army in Scotland which was finally defeated by the English at Culloden Moor in 1746. After Culloden Jacobitism ceased to be a serious political force in Britain.

Mezzotint was developed in the seventeenth century, the first printing process to produce images from areas of tone rather than lines. The metal printing plates are prepared with a tool known as a rocker, pitting the entire surface with tiny indentations. A plate inked and printed at this stage would print entirely black. Paler areas are produced with a scraper, rubbing down selected areas. These indentations hold less ink and produce paler tones. Removing the indentations completely will produce white highlights. The prepared plate can be inked and printed like an etching plate.

The Royal Academy was founded in 1768, to provide training for young artists and support for those at the end of their careers, as well as providing a space for artists to exhibit their work. In 1780 it moved from its modest original home in Pall Mall to a magnificent suite of rooms in the newly-built Somerset House on the Strand. These included London's first purpose-built exhibition space, known as 'the Great Room'. You can still visit the Great Room today; it is part of the Courtauld Institute Gallery in Somerset House.

The Seven Years War 1756-1763 was fought between Britain and France in Europe and in America. It resulted in British victory and the creation of the first British empire. One of the most important victories was General James Wolfe's defeat of the French forces at Québec in Canada in 1759. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris, at which Britain emerged as the world's chief colonial empire, having acquired not only Quebec but also Florida, Minorca and large additional parts of India and the West Indies.

The Siege of Gibraltar 1779-83 In 1713, at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, the British Crown seized control of Gibraltar from the King of Spain. But the Spanish, eager to recapture the Rock, continued to take military action. Allied with the French, they began what became known as the Great Siege in 1779. This continued until February 1783 when George Augustus Eliott, later 1st Baron Heathfield of Gibraltar, declared victory for the British.

Tory Originally a term of abuse applied in the late seventeenth century to parliamentarians who opposed the exclusion of James, Duke of York from the royal succession. By Reynolds's day the Tories had abandoned their support of the Stuarts, but upheld the established authority of the Church and state, and opposed concessions towards greater liberty and moves to widen the basis of parliamentary representation.

The War of the Austrian Succession 1740-1748 was a complex series of European dynastic and military campaigns. The British aimed to achieve naval supremacy in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, and to increase their control over India and America. The war also incorporated the trade conflict between Britain and Spain, now known as the War of Jenkins's Ear. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, signed in 1748, resolved few of the problems and the major powers would meet again during the Seven Years War.

Whig Originally a derogatory term, the political party was formed in the 1670s to campaign for the exclusion of the Catholic James, Duke of York (later James II) from the line of succession. Whigs dominated parliament after the Hanoverian succession in 1714, though the accession of George III brought a return to favour for the Tories. Samuel Johnson said 'the prejudice of the Tory is for the establishment; the prejudice of the Whig is for innovation'.