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Year 1840 (MDCCCXL) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar).
Events of 1840
January - June
- January 3 - One of the predecessor papers of the Herald Sun of Melbourne, Australia, The Port Phillip Herald, is founded.
- January 10 - Uniform penny postage is introduced in the UK.
- January 13 - The steamship Lexington burns and sinks in icy waters, 4 miles off the coast of Long Island; 139 die, only 4 survive.
- January 19 - Captain Charles Wilkes circumnavigates Antarctica, claiming what becomes known as Wilkes Land for the United States.
- January 20
- January 22 - British colonists reach New Zealand, officially founding Wellington.
- February - Rhodes blood libel against the Jews of Rhodes.
- February 5 - The murder of a Capuchin friar and his Greek servant leads to the Damascus affair, a highly publicized case of blood libel against the Jews of Damascus.
- February 6 - The Treaty of Waitangi, granting British sovereignty in New Zealand, is signed.
- February 10 - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg-Gotha.
- February 11 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera La Fille du Regiment premieres in Paris.
- March 1
- April 15 - King's College Hospital opens in Portugal Street, London.
- May 1 - Britain issues the Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp.
- May 6 - The Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp, becomes valid for the pre-payment of postage.
- May 7 - The Great Natchez Tornado: A massive tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi during the early afternoon hours. Before it iss over, 317 people are killed and 109 injured. It is the second deadliest tornado in U.S. history.
- May 21 - New Zealand is declared a British colony.
July - December
- July 4 - The Cunard Line's 700-ton wooden paddlewheel steamer RMS Britannia departs from Liverpool, bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic passenger cruise.
- July 15 - Austria, Britain, Prussia, and Russia sign the London Treaty with the Sublime Porte, ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
- July 23 - The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union.
- August 10 - Fortsas hoax: A number of book collectors gather in Binche, Belgium to attend a non-existent book auction of the late "Count of Fortsas".
- September 10 - Ottoman and British troops bombard Beirut and land troops on the coast to pressure Egyptian Muhammad Ali to retreat from the country.
- September 16 - Joseph Strutt hands over the deeds and papers concerning the Arboretum, which later becomes England's first public park.
- September 30 - The frigate Belle-Poule arrives in Cherbourg, bringing back the remains of Napoléon from Saint Helena to France. He is buried in the Invalides.
- October 7 - Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands.
- November 7 - U.S. presidential election, 1840: William Henry Harrison defeats Martin Van Buren.
- December 7 - David Livingstone leaves Britain for Africa.
- December 7 - The Stockport Viaduct (located in Greater Manchester, England) is completed. It is the largest brick structure in Western Europe.
Undated
The frigate Belle-Poule brings back the remains of Napoléon to France.
Ongoing events
Births
January - June
- January 3 - Father Damien, Belgian missionary priest (d. 1889)
- January 22 - Ernest Roland Wilberforce, English bishop (d. 1907)
- January 23 - Ernst Abbe, German physicist (d. 1905)
- January 26 - John Clayton Adams, British landscape artist (d. 1906)
- February 4 - Hiram Stevens Maxim, American firearms inventor (d. 1916)
- February 5 - John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish inventor (d. 1921)
- February 21 - Murad V, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1904)
- February 22 - August Bebel, German politician (d. 1913)
- February 23 - Carl Menger, Austrian economist (d. 1921)
- February 29 - John Philip Holland, Irish inventor (d. 1914)
- March 28 - Emin Pasha, German doctor and African administrator (d. 1892)
- April 2 - Emile Zola, French writer (d. 1902)
- April 22 - Odilon Redon, French painter (d. 1916)
- April 27 - Edward Whymper, English mountaineer (d. 1911)
- May 7 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (d. 1893)
- May 13 - Alphonse Daudet, French writer (d. 1897)
- June 2 - Thomas Hardy, English writer (d. 1928)
- June 10 - Theodor Philipsen Danish painter (d. 1920)
July - December
Deaths
January - June
- January 6 - Fanny Burney, English novelist (b. 1752)
- January 22 - Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German anthropologist (b. 1752)
- February 13 - Nicolas Joseph Maison, French marshal and Minister of War (b. 1770)
- April 25 - Siméon-Denis Poisson, French mathematician, geometer, and physicist (b. 1781)
- May 1 - Joseph Williamson, philanthropist and builder of Williamson's tunnels (b. 1769)
- May 6 - Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin, Russian aristocrat and priest (b. 1770)
- May 7 - Caspar David Friedrich, German artist (b. 1774)
- May 11 - Thomas Cooper, American political philosopher (b. 1759)
- May 26 - Sidney Smith, British admiral (b. 1764)
- May 27 - Nicolň Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1782)
- June 7 - King Frederick William III of Prussia (b. 1770)
July - December
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