Death John Ellis Welsh Antiquarian

John Ellis (1674 – 1735) was a Welsh priest and antiquarian who died in July 1735. He was the second son of Thomas Ellis, from Llandegwning, Llŷn. He was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, matriculating 31 March 1690 aged 16. He obtained his BA 1693 and MA 1696. He was also appointed a Fellow of Jesus College 1696, holding this position until 1713. In 1703, he obtained the degree of BD. He was ordained deacon 7 September 1707, with his ordination to the priesthood taking place 4 July 1708. He was then appointed rector of Llandwrog on 30 September 1710; in the same year, he was made a Canon of Bangor Cathedral. In 1713, he was made prebend of Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd and surrendered his position at Bangor Cathedral. On 24 July 1719, he became rector of Llanbedr-y-cennin and vicar of Caerhun. His wife, Catherine (whom he married on 13 May 1720), was the step-sister of Humphrey Humphreys, Bishop of Bangor 1689-1701. Only one of their children survived infancy, also called John, becoming vicar of Bangor. Ellis had a particular interest in antiquarian matters and assisted with Browne Willis's work A Survey of the Cathedral Church of Bangor in 1721, as Willis acknowledged. Ellis himself died at Llanbedr-y-cennin and was buried in the parish on 12 July 1735.

Birth of Margaret Clive

Margaret Clive, Baroness Clive, (née Maskelyne) was born 26 October 1735 (she died 28 December 1817). She was a British society figure. She went out to India to meet an admirer and married (in 1753) a military hero, Robert Clive (1725-1774). She was in Bengal as their family became incredibly wealthy. When they returned to England the aristocracy did not welcome "new money".

The War of the Polish Succession

Augustus III

The War of the Polish Succession (Wojna o sukcesję polską; 1733–35) was a major European conflict sparked by a Polish civil war over the succession to Augustus II, which the other European powers widened in pursuit of their own national interests. France and Spain, the two Bourbon powers, attempted to test the power of the Austrian Habsburgs in western Europe, as did the Kingdom of Prussia, whilst Saxony and Russia mobilised to support the eventual Polish victor. The war resulted in the accession of Augustus III, who in addition to Russia and Saxony, was politically supported by the Habsburgs.

The war's major military campaigns and battles occurred outside Poland. The Bourbons, supported by Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, moved against isolated Habsburg territories. In the Rhineland, France successfully took the Duchy of Lorraine, and in Italy, Spain regained control over the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily (lost in the War of the Spanish Succession), while territorial gains in northern Italy were limited despite bloody campaigning. Great Britain's unwillingness to support Habsburg Austria demonstrated the weakness of the Anglo-Austrian Alliance.

Though a preliminary peace was reached in 1735, the war only formally ended with the Treaty of Vienna (1738), confirming Augustus III king of Poland, his opponent Stanislaus I being awarded the Duchies of Lorraine and Bar, then both fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire. Francis Stephen, Duke of Lorraine, was given the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in compensation for the loss of Lorraine. The Duchy of Parma went to Austria whereas Charles of Parma took the crowns of Naples and Sicily. Most of the territorial gains were in favour of the Bourbons, as the Duchies of Lorraine and Bar went from being fiefs of the HRE to that of France, while the Spanish Bourbons gained two new kingdoms in the form of Naples and Sicily. The Austrian Habsburgs, for their part, received two Italian duchies in return, though Parma would soon revert to Bourbon control, Tuscany would be held by the Habsburgs until the Napoleonic era.

The war proved disastrous for Polish independence, and re-affirmed that the affairs of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, including the election of the King himself, would be controlled by the other great powers of Europe. After Augustus III, there would only be one more king of Poland, Stanislaus II August, himself a puppet of the Russians. Ultimately Poland would be divided up by its neighbours and cease to exist as a sovereign state by the end of the 18th century. Poland also surrendered claims to Livonia and direct control over the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, which, although remaining a Polish fief, was not integrated into Poland proper and came under strong Russian influence which only ended with the fall of the Russian Empire, 1917.