1840

Year 1840 () was a (link will display the full calendar) of the  (or a  of the 12-day slower ).

January - March

 * - One of the predecessor papers of the  of, The Port Phillip Herald, is founded by.
 * - Uniform penny postage introduced in the UK.
 * - The steamship burns and sinks in icy waters, four miles off the coast of : 139 died, only 4 survived.
 * - Captain circumnavigates, claiming what became known as  for the.
 * - discovers, . The first public school is established in Rockingham County
 * - colonists reach . Official founding date of.
 * - The begins with the disappearance of a friar and his servant, which by the next day had been blamed on local Jews.
 * -, document granting British sovereignty in , is signed.
 * - Queen marries.
 * - 's opera La Fille du Regiment premieres in.
 * , first Governor of, suffers a stroke.
 * becomes prime minister of.
 * becomes prime minister of.

April - June

 * - opens in Portugal Street, London.
 * - issues the, world's first.
 * - The, world's first becomes valid for the pre-payment of postage.
 * - The : A massive tornado strikes during the early afternoon hours. Before it was over, 317 people had lost their lives and 109 were injured. It is the second deadliest tornado in U.S. history.

July - September

 * - The 's 700- wooden paddlewheel steamer departs from  bound for ,  on the first transatlantic passenger cruise.
 * –, , , and sign a London Treaty with the , ruler of the.
 * - The is created by the.
 * - - number of book s gather to,  to attend a non-existent book auction of the late "Count of Fortsas"
 * - Ottoman and British troops bombard and land troops on the coast to pressure ian Muhammad Ali to retreat from the country.
 * - handed over the deeds and papers concerning the, which was to become England's first public park.

October - December

 * - becomes King of the.
 * – leader  surrenders to the British forces and goes into exile in.
 * - defeats  in the.

Undated

 * The frigate brings back the remains of  from  to .  He is buried in the.
 * publishes his work in two volumes entitled Etudes sur les glaciers ("Study on Glaciers"), the first major work to scientifically propose that the Earth has been subject to a past.
 * leaves for Africa.
 * is declared "of age" prematurely and begins to reassert central control in.
 * is founded in,.
 * is founded.
 * First English translation of Goethe's by  published.
 * - viaduct (located in, ) was completed in this year. It is one of the largest brick structures in.
 * occurs, a highly publicized case of of.
 * against the s of.

January - June

 * -, Belgian missionary priest (d. )
 * -, English bishop (d. )
 * -, German physicist (d. )
 * -, British landscape artist (d. )
 * -, American firearms inventor (d. )
 * -, Scottish inventor (d. )
 * -, (d. )
 * -, German politician (d. )
 * -, Austrian economist (d. )
 * -, Irish inventor (d. )
 * -, German doctor and African administrator (d. )
 * -, French writer (d. )
 * -, French painter (d. )
 * -, English mountaineer (d. )
 * -, Russian composer (d. )
 * -, French writer (d. )
 * -, English writer (d. )

July - December

 * -, German sexologist (d. )
 * -, British artist (d. )
 * -, (d. )
 * -, French sculptor (d. )
 * -, French painter (d. )
 * - (d. )
 * -, Welsh writer (d. )


 * See also .

January - June

 * -, English novelist (b. )
 * -, German anthropologist (b. )
 * -, French marshal and Minister of War (b. )
 * -, French mathematician, geometer, and physicist (b. )
 * - Joseph Williamson, philanthropist and builder of (b. )
 * -, German artist (b. )
 * -, British admiral (b. )
 * -, Italian violinist and composer (b. )
 * - King (b. )

July - December

 * -, philosopher and poet (b. )
 * -, novelist and dramatist (b. )
 * -, polymath (b. )
 * -, Polish-Lithuanian statesman (b. )


 * See also .