What Happened In History Year 1840

Historical Events for the Year 1840

• 13th January » The steamship 'Steamship Lexington e.g Lexington' burns and sinks four miles off the coast of Long Island with the loss of 139 lives.
• 19th January » Captain Charles Wilkes circumnavigates Antarctica, claiming what became known as Wilkes Land for the United States.
• 6th February » Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, establishing New Zealand as a British colony.
• 10th February » Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
• 27th April » Foundation stone for new Palace of Westminster, London, is laid by wife of Sir Charles Barry.
• 1st May » The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom.
• 6th May » The Penny Black postage stamp becomes valid for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
• 7th May » The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history.
• 20th May » York Minster is badly damaged by fire.
• 22nd May » The penal transportation known as transportation of United Kingdom known as British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.
• 20th June » Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph.
• 23rd July » The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union 1840 known as Act of Union.
• 1st August » Laborer slaves in most of the British Empire are emancipated.
• 7th October » William II of the Netherlands e.g Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands.
• 14th October » The Maronite leader Bashir II surrenders to the British Army and then is sent into exile on the islands of Malta.

Famous Birthdays in 1840

• 3rd January » Father Damien, Flemish missionary and priest (d. 1889)
• 10th January » Louis-Nazaire Bégin, Canadian cardinal (d. 1925)
• 22nd January » Ernest Roland Wilberforce, English bishop (d. 1907)
• 23rd January » Ernst Abbe, German physicist (d. 1905)
• 5th February » John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish businessman, co-founded Dunlop Rubber (d. 1921)
• 5th February » Hiram Maxim, American-English inventor, invented the Maxim gun (d. 1916)
• 15th February » Titu Maiorescu, Romanian politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1917)
• 22nd February » August Bebel, German politician (d. 1913)
• 23rd February » Carl Menger, Austrian economist (d. 1921)
• 23rd February » Frederick Wicks, English author and inventor (d. 1910)
• 28th February » Henri Duveyrier, French explorer (d. 1892)
• 29th February » John Philip Holland, Irish engineer, designed the 'HMS Holland 1' (d. 1914)
• 16th March » Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese businessman (d. 1931)
• 18th March » William Cosmo Monkhouse, English poet and critic (d. 1901)
• 20th March » Illarion Pryanishnikov, Russian painter (d. 1894)
• 25th March » Myles Keogh, Irish-American captain (d. 1876)
• 27th March » George Fisher Baker, American financier and philanthropist (d. 1931)
• 28th March » Emin Pasha, Egyptian physician and politician (d. 1892)
• 2nd April » Émile Zola, French author and critic (d. 1902)
• 5th April » Ghazaros Aghayan, Armenian historian and linguist (d. 1911)
• 20th April » Odilon Redon, French painter (d. 1916)
• 27th April » Edward Whymper, English mountaineer (d. 1911)
• 7th May » Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer and educator (d. 1893)
• 10th May » Hadzhi Dimitar, Bulgarian warlord (d. 1868)
• 12th May » Alejandro Gorostiaga, Chilean colonel (d. 1912)
• 13th May » Alphonse Daudet, French author (d. 1897)
• 2nd June » Thomas Hardy, English author and poet (d. 1928)
• 7th June » Carlota of Mexico (d. 1927)
• 10th June » Theodor Philipsen, Danish painter (d. 1920)
• 14th June » William F. Nast, American businessman (d. 1893)
• 16th June » Ernst Otto Schlick, German engineer (d. 1913)
• 6th July » José María Velasco Gómez, Mexican painter (d. 1912)
• 3rd August » John Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey, English jurist and politician (d. 1929)
• 14th August » Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German-Austrian psychologist and author (d. 1902)
• 17th August » Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, English poet and activist (d. 1922)
• 21st August » Ferdinand Hamer, Dutch missionary and bishop (d. 1900)
• 25th August » George C. Magoun, American businessman (d. 1893)
• 28th August » Alexander Cameron Sim, Scottish-Japanese pharmacist and businessman, founded Kobe Regatta & Athletic Club (d. 1900)
• 19th September » Galen Spencer, American archer (d. 1904)
• 21st September » Murad V, Ottoman sultan (d. 1904)
• 26th September » Louis-Olivier Taillon, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Premier of Quebec (d. 1923)
• 27th September » Alfred Thayer Mahan, American captain and historian (d. 1914)
• 27th September » Thomas Nast, German-American cartoonist (d. 1902)
• 9th October » Simeon Solomon, English painter (d. 1905)
• 12th October » Helena Modjeska, Polish-American actress (d. 1909)
• 14th October » Dmitry Pisarev, Russian author and critic (d. 1868)
• 15th October » Honoré Mercier, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 9th Premier of Quebec (d. 1894)
• 16th October » Kuroda Kiyotaka, Japanese general and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1900)
• 24th October » Eliza Pollock, American archer (d. 1919)
• 9th November » Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau, Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Premier of Quebec (d. 1898)
• 12th November » Auguste Rodin, French sculptor, created The Thinker (d. 1917)
• 14th November » Claude Monet, French painter (d. 1926)
• 21st November » Victoria, Princess Royal of England (d. 1901)
• 30th November » Henry Birks, Canadian businessman, founded Birks & Mayors (d. 1928)
• 21st December » Namık Kemal, Turkish journalist, playwright, and activist (d. 1888)

Famous Deaths in History for 1840

• 6th January » Fanny Burney, English author (b. 1752)
• 22nd January » Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German anthropologist (b. 1752)
• 22nd January » Vincent Pallotti, Italian missionary and saint (b. 1795)
• 2nd March » Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers, German physician and astronomer (b. 1758)
• 22nd March » Étienne Bobillier, French mathematician (b. 1798)
• 30th March » Beau Brummell, English fashion designer (b. 1778)
• 17th April » Hannah Webster Foster, American author (b. 1758)
• 19th April » Jean-Jacques Lartigue, Canadian bishop (b. 1777)
• 25th April » Siméon Denis Poisson, French mathematician and physicist (b. 1781)
• 6th May » Francisco de Paula Santander, Colombian general and politician, 4th President of the Republic of the New Granada (b. 1792)
• 7th May » Caspar David Friedrich, German painter (b. 1774)
• 26th May » Sidney Smith (Royal Navy officer) called Sidney Smith, English admiral and politician (b. 1764)
• 27th May » Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1782)
• 6th June » Marcellin Champagnat, French priest and saint, founded the Marist Brothers (b. 1789)
• 7th June » Frederick William III of Prussia (b. 1770)
• 20th June » Pierre Claude François Daunou, French historian and politician (b. 1761)
• 29th June » Lucien Bonaparte, French prince (b. 1775)
• 7th September » Jacques MacDonald, French general (b. 1765)
• 20th September » José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, Paraguayan lawyer and politician, Consul of Paraguay (b. 1766)
• 11th December » Emperor Kōkaku of Japan (b. 1771)

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