Famous People Who Died In 1774

Robert Clive was a military officer and the first British Governor of the Bengal Presidency in British India. Nicknamed Clive of India, Robert Clive is credited with laying the foundation of the East India Company rule in Bengal. He won the Battle of Plassey in 1757, which enabled him to establish Company rule in Bengal.

Oliver Goldsmith was an Anglo-Irish novelist, poet, and playwright. Described by his contemporaries as a disorganized and impetuous person, Goldsmith is best remembered for his works, such as The Vicar of Wakefield, The Deserted Village, and She Stoops to Conquer. A respected writer, Goldsmith's statue has been erected in several places, including the Trinity College, Dublin.

François Quesnay was a French economist and physician. He was a proponent of the Physiocratic school. He is best known for publishing the "Tableau économique" (Economic Table), in which he set forth the foundations of the ideas of the Physiocrats. He also wrote extensively on Chinese politics and society. He was married to a woman named Marianne Woodsen. 

Robert Fergusson was a Scottish poet whose works had a major impact on contemporary poet and lyricist Robert Burns. Although Fergusson's career was brief, he achieved immense popularity for his work in the Scots language. He died at the age of 24 and the brutal circumstances of his demise inspired the creation of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.

French naturalist, geographer, and mathematician Charles Marie de La Condamine is remembered for completing the first known scientific exploration of the Amazon region and also created the first map of the region. He was also part of an expedition that measured a latitude at the equator.

Widely regarded as the father of hematology, Copley Medal-winning British physiologist William Hewson studied blood coagulation, the lymphatic system, and red blood cells, and isolated fibrin, which he named coagulable lymph. He was made a Royal Society member and was also named to the American Philosophical Society.

Jacques-François Blondel was a French teacher and architect who served as a professor at the Académie Royale d'Architecture after running his own school of architecture for several years. Jacques-François Blondel is credited with teaching many future architects like Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart, Étienne-Louis Boullée, Jean-François-Thérèse Chalgrin, and Louis Jean Desprez. In 1755, he was made an inductee of the Académie Royale d'Architecture.