Events

• January 24 - Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
• February 16 - Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain.
• February 18 - British attack La Guayra.
• April 13 - The first performance of George Frideric Handel's oratorio The Messiah, in Dublin.
• May 17 - Frederick the Great's army defeats Austrians in Chotusitz; later Austria cedes Silesia to Prussia
• May 25 - A battle is fought at Sahay.
• December 2 - The Pennsylvania Journal first appears in print.
• Daniel le Pelley succeeds Nicolas le Pelley as Seigneur of Sark.
• Kingdom of Prussia captures Jihlava.
• Christian Goldbach formulates Goldbach's conjecture.
• Colin Maclaurin publishes his Treatise on Fluxions.
• Anders Celsius proposes the Celsius temperature scale.
• James Bradley succeeds Edmond Halley as Astronomer Royal.
• Henry Fielding publishes Joseph Andrews.
• John Carteret, 2nd Lord Carteret becomes Secretary of State for the Northern Department.
• Rigging of Chippenham by-election causes a political scandal.
• William Pulteney created as 1st Earl of Bath.
• Robert Walpole was elevated to the peerage and thus moved from the House of Commons to the House of Lords, effectively ending his reign as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (see February 16, above).
• University of Erlangen is founded.
• Lopukhina Conspiracy at the Russian court.
• Molde in Norway becomes a city.
• Construction starts on the Foundling Hospital in London.
• Eisenach builds its Stadtschloss (city castle).
• In Peru, Juan Santon takes the name Atahualpa II and begins an ill-fated rebellion against the Spanish rule
• Afghan tribes unite as a monarchy.

Ongoing events

• War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748)

Births

• January 8 - Philip Astley, English circus organizer (d. 1814)
• March 10 - Sampson Salter Blowers, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1842)
• April 28 - Henry Dundas, British statesman (d. 1811)
• May 6 - Jean Senebier, Swiss pastor and botanist (d. 1809)
• June 25 - Johann Schweighauser, German classical scholar (d. 1830)
• June 26 - Arthur Middleton, American politician (d. 1787)
• June 28 - William Hooper, American statesman (d. 1790)
• July 21 - John Cleves Symmes, American statesman (d. 1814)
• July 27 - Nathanael Greene, American general (d. 1786)
• September 14 - James Wilson, American politician (d. 1798)
• October 6 - Johan Herman Wessel, Norwegian poet (d. 1785)
• December 9 - Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Swedish chemist (d. 1785)
• December 16 - Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Prussian general (d. 1819)
• George Chalmers, Scottish antiquarian (d. 1825)
• Joseph Brant, Mohawk leader (d. 1807)
• Francis Nash, American military officer (d. 1777)

Deaths

• January 1 - Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman (b. 1686)
• January 14 - Edmond Halley, English astronomer (b. 1656)
• February 22 - Charles Rivington, English publisher (b. 1688)
• March 23 - Jean-Baptiste Dubos, French author (b. 1670)
• April 2 - James Douglas, Scottish physician and anatomist (b. 1675)
• April 17 - Arvid Horn, Swedish statesman (b. 1664)
• May 13 - Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1719)
• May 21 - Lars Roberg, Swedish physician (b. 1664)
• June 18 - John Aislabie, British politician (b. 1670)
• June 27 - Nathan Bailey, English philologist and lexicographer
• July 4 - Guido Grandi, Italian mathematician (b. 1671)
• July 9 - John Oldmixon, English historian (b. 1673)
• July 12 - Evaristo Abaco, Italian composer (b. 1675)
• July 14 - Richard Bentley, English scholar and critic (b. 1662)
• July 19 - William Somervile, English poet (b. 1675)
• August 25 - Carlos Seixas, Portuguese composer (b. 1704)
• September 22 - Frederic Louis Norden, Danish explorer (b. 1708)
• September 27 - Hugh Boulter, Irish Archbishop of Armagh (b. 1672)
• September 28 - Jean Baptiste Massillon, French bishop (b. 1663)
• November 12 - Friedrich Hoffmann, German physician and chemist (b. 1660)
• November 20 - Melchior de Polignac, French diplomat (b. 1661)
• November 24 - Andrew Bradford, American publisher (b. 1686)
• December 31 - Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine (b. 1661)

1742

1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742년 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742年 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | พ.ศ. 2285 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742 | 1742年