1742

1742 (MDCCXLII) was a common year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Friday in the Julian calendar.

• 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 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, (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.

for more information, see Category:1742 births.

for more information, see Category:1742 deaths.