Royal Society of Arts including Cheere and William Hogarth, or were involved in small-scale private art academies, such as the St Martin's Lane Academy. Although Cheere's attempt failed, the eventual charter, called an 'Instrument', used to establish the Royal Academy of Arts over a decade later was almost identical to that drawn up by Cheere and the RSA in 1755. The RSA also hosted the first "exhibition of contemporary art" in 1760. Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds were among those who exhibited at this first exhibition, and were subsequently founder members of The Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. The Society was a pioneer
HMS Liberty (1768) HMS Liberty (1768) Liberty was a sloop owned by John Hancock, an American merchant. Seized by customs officials in Boston in 1768, it was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS "Liberty", and was burned the next year by American colonists in Newport, Rhode Island in one of the first acts of open defiance against the British crown by American colonists. The ship was originally owned by John Hancock. In 1768, British officials alleged that Bostonians locked a customs official in the "Liberty"s cabin while the cargo of Madeira wine was unloaded in an effort to evade the Townshend Acts.