In Great Britain, this year was known as the Annus Mirabilis, because of British victories in the Seven Years' War. Events January–March January 6 – George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis. January 11 – In Philadelphia, the first American life insurance company is incorporated. January 13 – Távora affair: The Távora family is executed, following accusations of the attempted regicide of Joseph I of Portugal. January 15 – Voltaire's satire Candide is published simultaneously in five countries. The British Museum opens at Montagu House in London (after six years of development). January 27 – Battle of Río Bueno: Spanish forces, led by Juan Antonio Garretón, defeat indigenous Huilliches of southern Chile. February 12 – Ali II ibn Hussein becomes the new Ruler of Tunisia upon the death of his brother, Muhammad I ar-Rashid. Ali reigns for 23 years until his death in 1782. February 16 – The Comte de Lally (Thomas Lally) ends the French Army's two-month siege of the British Indian fort at Madras and retreats. February 17 – "The greatest fleet that had ever put out for America" departs from Portsmouth with 250 ships (including 49 Royal Navy warships under the command of Vice Admiral Charles Saunders, on a mission to capture French-controlled Quebec. The ships bring 14,000 sailors, marines and British Army troops under the command of Major General James Wolfe, along with another 7,000 men in merchant service. March 4–November 20 – Étienne de Silhouette serves as Controller-General of France. April–June April 14 – Seven Years' War – Battle of Bergen: A French army defeats Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick. May 1 – Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood Pottery Company in England. May 10 – The Macedonian Hussar Regiment is formed and starts to assist the Russian Empire in the Seven Years' War. June 4 – After arriving at Canada, the Royal Navy fleet sails out of British-controlled Halifax toward the St. Lawrence River to prepare the invasion of French Quebec. June 15 – The first vascular surgery in history is performed by a Dr. Hallowell (whose first name has been lost to history) at Newcastle upon Tyne, who used suture repair rather than a tying off with a ligature to repair an aneurysm on a patient's brachial artery. The case is reported in 1761 by Dr. Richard Lambert in the paper "A new technique of treating an aneurysm", published in the journal Medical Observations and Inquiries.