Events 
 January 25 – Amaro Pargo receives the title of Hidalgo (nobleman).
 February 8 – Catherine I became empress of Russia.
 February 20 – The first reported case of white men scalping Native Americans takes place in New Hampshire colony.
 March 2 – In London, night watchman finds a severed head by the Thames; it is later recognized to be that of the husband of Catherine Hayes. She and one accomplice are later executed.
 May 21 – The Order of Alexander Nevsky was instituted in Russia by an empress Catherine I.
 May 24 – Jonathan Wild, fraudulent "Thief Taker General", is hanged in Tyburn, England for actually aiding criminals.

Births 
 February 4 – Dru Drury, English entomologist (d. 1804)
 February 5 – James Otis, American lawyer and patriot (d. 1783)
 February 15 – Abraham Clark, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1794)
 February 25 – Karl Wilhelm Ramler, German poet (d. 1798)
 March 11 – Henry Benedict Stuart, pretender to the British throne (d. 1807)
 March 17 – Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-born American military and political leader (d. 1806)
 March 20 – Abd-al-Hamid I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1789)
 March 24
Samuel Ashe, Governor of North Carolina (d. 1813)
Thomas Cushing, American Continental Congressman (d. 1788)
 March 28 – Andrew Kippis, English non-conformist clergyman and biographer (d. 1795)
 April 2 – Giacomo Casanova, Italian adventurer and writer (d. 1798)
 April 6 – Pasquale Paoli, Corsican patriot and military leader (d. 1807)
 April 23 – Saint Gerard Majella, Catholic saint (d. 1755)
 April 25 – Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, British admiral (d. 1786)
 May 12 – Louis Philip I, Duke of Orléans, French soldier and writer (d. 1785)
 May 25 – Samuel Ward, American politician (d. 1776)
 July 1 – Comte de Rochambeau, French soldier (d. 1807)
 July 24 – John Newton, English cleric and hymnist (d. 1807)
 August 21 – Jean-Baptiste Greuze, French painter (d. 1805)
 August 29 – Charles Townshend, English politician (d. 1767)
 September 5 – Jean-Étienne Montucla, French mathematician (d. 1799)
 September 12 – Guillaume Le Gentil, French astronomer (d. 1792)
 September 16 – Nicolas Desmarest, French geologist (d. 1815)
 September 24 – Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer (d. 1803)
 September 25 – Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, French automobile pioneer (d. 1804)
 September 29 – Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, British general and statesman (d. 1774)
 October 12 – Etienne Louis Geoffroy, French pharmacist and entomologist (d. 1810)
 October 21 – Franz Moritz Graf von Lacy, Austrian field marshal (d. 1801)
 December 11 – George Mason, American founding father (d. 1792)
 December 18 – Johann Salomo Semler, German historian and Bible commentator (d. 1791)

Deaths 
January 6 – Chikamatsu Monzaemon, Japanese dramatist (b. 1653)
February 8 – Tsar Peter I of Russia (b. 1672)
March 2 – José Benito de Churriguera, Spanish architect and sculptor (b. 1665)
April 8 – John Wise, English clergyman (b. 1652)
May 24 – Jonathan Wild, English criminal (b. 1683)
June 29 – Arai Hakuseki, Japanese poet, politician, and writer (b. 1657)
October 10 – Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil, Governor-General of New France
October 11 – Hans Herr, Swiss-born Mennonite bishop (b. 1639)
October 24 – Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian composer (b. 1660)
October 31 – Ali Othman, Vampire(b. 1660)
December 7 – Florent Carton Dancourt, French dramatist and actor (b. 1661)
date unknown
José Mora, Spanish sculptor (b. 1638)
Nguyễn Phúc Chu, Vietnamese ruler (b. 1675)