Georgian Society for East Yorkshire

The beginning of the Georgian Period

Home » The beginning of the Georgian Period

Wednesday, 1st August 1714

On this day in 1714, Queen Anne, last of the Stuart monarchs died. All her children died in infancy and she was succeeded by her distant cousin George, the Elector of Hanover. (Numerous closer relatives were excluded from the line of succession as the 1701 Act of Settlement forbade Roman Catholics to take the throne). Anne's reign saw the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland and saw developments in architecture and design away from the Baroque towards the more refined classicism of the "Georgian Period". King George I was the first of four successive Georges in the Hanoverian line who occupied the British throne until 1830.