Events from the year 1654 in England.
Incumbents Lord Protector – Oliver Cromwell
Events 20 March – establishment of Commission of Triers which will fill empty Anglican benefices with Puritan ministers. 5 April – signing of the Treaty of Westminster ends the First Anglo-Dutch War, and the Dutch agree to observe the Navigation Acts. 11 April – Anglo-Swedish alliance: A commercial treaty between England and Sweden is signed. 12 April – Oliver Cromwell creates a union between England and Scotland, with Scottish representation in the Parliament of England. 10 July – Peter Vowell and John Gerard are executed in London for plotting to assassinate Cromwell. August – Cromwell launches the 'Western Design', an expedition to the Caribbean to counter Spanish commercial interests, effectively beginning the Anglo-Spanish War (which will last until after the Restoration in 1660). The main fleet leaves Portsmouth on 25 December. 3 September – First Protectorate Parliament assembles.
Births 10 January – Joshua Barnes, scholar (died 1712) 22 January – Richard Blackmore, physician and writer (died 1729) 22 February – Elizabeth Monck, Duchess of Albemarle (died 1734) 27 April – Charles Blount, deist (died 1693) 23 June – Richard Onslow, 1st Baron Onslow, politician (died 1717) John Bellers, educationist (died 1725)
Deaths 10 January – Nicholas Culpeper, astrologer (born 1616) 8 February – John Talbot, 10th Earl of Shrewsbury (born 1601) 19 February – Edmund Chilmead, writer (born 1610) 3 June – Alethea Howard, Countess of Arundel (born 1585) 27 June– Thomas Gataker, clergy (born 1574) 28 June – John Southworth, martyr (born 1592) 10 July – Peter Vowell, Royalist conspirator (year of birth unknown) August – Roger Dodsworth, antiquary (born 1585) 30 November William Habington, poet (born 1605) John Selden, lawyer (born 1584) 6 December (bur.) – Sir William Brockman, military leader and politician (born 1595)
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