Timeline: Britain

• 1542 - 1567
  Reign of Mary, Queen of Scots.
• 16 Feb 1659
  The earliest known cheque in Britain is written for 400 pounds by Mr. Nicholas Vanacker, payable to Mr. Delboe, and drawn on the bankers Morris and Clayton. Owing to the calendar at that time, the date is sometimes given as 16 February 1600 and the cheque is usually referenced as 1659/60.
• 9 Nov 1729
  The Treaty of Seville is signed between Britain, France, and Spain, ending the Anglo-Spanish War of 1727-1729 and restoring a short-lived balance to Europe that would last only ten years before hostilities broke out again.
• 10 Feb 1763
  The Treaty of Paris ends the French and Indian War in North America which included in the terms the surrender of French territorial possessions to the English, thereby making England the dominant power in North America.
• 7 Feb 1783
  The Great Siege of Gibraltar, a 3-year, 7-month, 12-day blockade of the British-held position on Gibraltar by French and Spanish forces, is lifted with the signing of preliminary peace accords between the United States and Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War. The event was a decisive victory for the British garrison, which had refused to surrender, and the longest siege withstood in the history of British Armed Forces.
• 18 Aug 1783
  The Great Meteor Procession of 1783 is observed over the British Isles at around 9:15 (21:15), lighting up the region brightly for about a half an hour and interpreted by some as a portent of misfortune.
• 17 Apr 1797
  A British fleet under Lt. General Sir Ralph Abercromby appears off the coast of Puerto Rico and attacks San Juan on 21 April, the largest invasion force in the Americas made up of sixty vessels of British troops. The attack is repelled by Spanish forces on 30 April.
• 2 Nov 1917
  The Balfour Declaration is sent in a letter from British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild of the Jewish community proclaiming Britain's support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. The declaration was published November 9, stipulating that "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.".
• 3 Oct 1932
  Iraq officially gains independence from Britain and joins the League of Nations as the Kingdom of Iraq, ending the British Mandate in the region that had been in effect since 1920.