1840 in the United Kingdom

1840 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1838 | 1839 | 1840 | 1841 | 1842

Sport

1840 English cricket season

Events from the year 1840 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch — Queen Victoria
• Prime Minister — Viscount Melbourne, Whig

Events

• 10 January — Uniform Penny Post introduced.
• 22 January — British colonists reach New Zealand. Official founding date of Wellington.
• 6 February — Treaty of Waitangi, a document granting British sovereignty in New Zealand, is signed.^[1]
• 10 February — Queen Victoria marries her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha^[1] in the Royal Chapel at St James's Palace.^[2]
• 15 April — King's College Hospital opens in Portugal Street, London.
• 27 April — The foundation stone of the new Palace of Westminster is laid as its reconstruction following a fire in 1834 begins (completed in 1860).^[3][4]
• 1 May — Issue of the Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp,^[3] together with Mulready stationery. The stamp becomes valid for postage from 6 May.^[5]
• 10 June — Edward Oxford attempts to assassinate Queen Victoria.^[6]
• July — Last known Great Auk in the British Isles caught and later killed on the islet of Stac an Armin, St Kilda, Scotland.^[7][8][9]
• 4 July — The Cunard Line's 700-ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannia departs from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the first steam transatlantic passenger mail service.^[6]
• 15 July — Austria, Britain, Prussia, and Russia sign the London Treaty with the Sublime Porte, ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
• 23 July — The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union.
• 7 August — Chimney Sweeps Act prohibits the employment of children under the age of 21 as chimney sweeps.^[1]
• 10 September — Ottoman and British troops bombard Beirut and land troops on the coast to pressure Egyptian Muhammad Ali to retreat from the country.
• 16 September — Joseph Strutt hands over the deeds and papers concerning the Derby Arboretum, which is to become England's first public park.
• 30 September — Foundation of Nelson's Column laid in London,^[1] Trafalgar Square being laid out and paved during the year.^[6]
• 14 October — Maronite leader Bashir Shihab II surrenders to the British forces and goes into exile in Malta.
• 25 October — First railway timetable published.^[6]
• 21 December — Stockport Viaduct is completed.^[10] It is one of the largest brick structures in Europe.

Undated

• David Livingstone leaves for Africa.
• The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals gains its Royal status.^[3]

Ongoing events

• First Opium War (1839–1842)
• First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842)

Publications

• W. Harrison Ainsworth's novels Guy Fawkes and The Tower of London (both serialised).
• Charles Dickens' novel The Old Curiosity Shop (serialised).
• "Thomas Ingoldsby"'s The Ingoldsby Legends (first collected in book form).
• William Makepeace Thackeray's novel Catherine.
• William Whewell's book The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, founded upon their history, in which he introduces the words "Physicist" and (for the second time) "Scientist".^[11][12][13]

Births

• 18 January — Henry Austin Dobson, poet and essayist (died 1921)
• 26 January — John Clayton Adams, landscape artist (died 1906)
• 5 February — John Boyd Dunlop, inventor (died 1921)
• 29 February — John Philip Holland, inventor (died 1914)
• 31 March — Benjamin Baker, civil engineer (died 1907)
• 27 April — Edward Whymper, mountaineer (died 1911)
• 2 June — Thomas Hardy, writer (died 1928)
• 9 October — Simeon Solomon, artist (died 1905)
• 21 November — Victoria, Princess Royal (died 1901)
• 29 November — Rhoda Broughton, writer (died 1920)

Deaths

• 6 January — Fanny Burney, novelist (born 1752)
• 18 February — Jeffry Wyattville, architect and garden designer (born 1766)
• 30 March — Beau Brummell, arbiter of fashion (born 1778)
• 1 May — Joseph Williamson, philanthropist and builder of Williamson's tunnels (born 1769)
• 26 May — Sidney Smith, admiral (born 1764)

References

See also