30th January » The Forty-seven Ronin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master.
27th May » Tsar Peter I of Russia e.g Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.
31st July » Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.
26th November » The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, makes landfall. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people die.
27th November » The first Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed in the Great Storm of 1703.
27th December » Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty which gives preference to Portuguese imported wines into England.
Famous Birthdays in 1703
20th January » Joseph-Hector Fiocco, Flemish violinist and composer (d. 1741)
29th January » Carlmann Kolb, German priest and composer (d. 1765)
30th January » François Bigot, French politician (d. 1778)
5th February » Gilbert Tennent, Irish-American minister (d. 1764)
21st February » Shah Waliullah, Islamic scholar and reformer (d. 1762)
5th March » Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (d. 1768)
21st June » Joseph Lieutaud, French physician and anatomist (d. 1780)
23rd June » Marie Leszczyńska, Polish wife of Louis XV of France (d. 1768)
26th June » Thomas Clap, American minister and academic (d. 1767)
28th June » John Wesley, English cleric and theologian (d. 1791)
2nd August » Lorenzo Ricci, Italian religious leader, 18th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (d. 1775)
29th September » François Boucher, French painter (d. 1770)
5th October » Jonathan Edwards (theologian) e.g Jonathan Edwards, American pastor and theologian (d. 1758)
27th October » Johann Gottlieb Graun, German violinist and composer (d. 1771)
28th October » Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician (d. 1768)
25th November » Jean-François Séguier, French astronomer and botanist (d. 1784)
26th November » Theophilus Cibber, English actor and playwright (d. 1758)
2nd December » Ferdinand Konščak, Croatian missionary and explorer (d. 1759)
Famous Deaths in History for 1703
3rd March » Robert Hooke, English architect and philosopher (b. 1635)
31st March » Johann Christoph Bach, German organist and composer (b. 1642)
20th April » Lancelot Addison, English educator (b. 1632)
16th May » Charles Perrault, French author (b. 1628)
26th May » Samuel Pepys, English politician (b. 1633)
14th June » Jean Herauld Gourville, French adventurer (b. 1625)
22nd September » Vincenzo Viviani, Italian mathematician and physicist (b. 1622)
25th September » Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll, Scottish general (b. 1658)
29th September » Charles de Saint-Évremond, French-English soldier, author, and critic (b. 1610)
14th October » Thomas Kingo, Danish bishop and poet (b. 1634)
28th October » John Wallis, English mathematician and cryptographer (b. 1616)
27th November » Henry Winstanley, English painter and engineer (b. 1644)
30th November » Nicolas de Grigny, French organist and composer (b. 1672)