1840 34699 224860831 2008-07-10T19:07:16Z 87.48.76.65 /* January - June */ {{year nav|1840}} {{C19YearInTopicX}} Year '''1840''' ('''[[Roman numerals|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]]). <!-- 12-day span=Mon-Sat,Tue-Sun,Wed-Mon,Thu-Tue,Fr-We,Sa-Th,Sun-Fri --> == Events of 1840 == === January - June === <!-- Link all dates, even if repeated, for date-format preferences. House style is to repeat dates, not use second-level bullet points. --> [[Image:Awful conflagration of the steam boat Lexington.jpg|thumb|right|230px| [[January 13]]: Steamship ''Lexington'' sinks.]] * [[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 introduced in the UK. * [[January 13]] - The steamship [[Steamship Lexington|''Lexington'']] burns and sinks in icy waters, four miles off the coast of [[Long Island]]: 139 died, only 4 survived. * [[January 19]] - Captain [[Charles Wilkes]] circumnavigates [[Antarctica]], claiming what became known as [[Wilkes Land]] for the [[United States]]. * [[January 20]] **[[Dumont D'Urville]] discovers [[Adélie Land]], [[Antarctica]]. **The first public school is established in Rockingham County * [[January 22]] - [[United Kingdom|British]] colonists reach [[New Zealand]]. Official founding date of [[Wellington]]. * February - [[Rhodes blood libel]] against the [[Jew]]s 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]] - [[Treaty of Waitangi]], document 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]] **[[William Hobson]], first Governor of [[New Zealand]], suffer a stroke. **[[Adolphe Thiers]] becomes prime minister of [[France]]. * [[April 15]] - [[King's College Hospital]] opens in Portugal Street, London. * [[May 1]] - [[United Kingdom|Britain]] issues the [[Penny Black]], world's first [[postage stamp]]. * [[May 6]] - The [[Penny Black]], 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 was over, 317 people had lost their lives and 109 were injured. It is the second deadliest tornado in U.S. history. * [[May 21]] - New Zealand is declared a British colony. === July - December === [[Image:RMS Britannia 1840 paddlewheel.jpg |thumb|210px|right| [[July 4]]: [[RMS Britannia|RMS ''Britannia'']].]] <!-- Link all dates, even if repeated, for date-format preferences. House style is to repeat dates, not use second-level bullet points. --> * [[July 4]] - The [[Cunard Line]]'s 700-[[ton]] wooden paddlewheel steamer [[RMS Britannia|RMS ''Britannia'']] departs from [[Liverpool]] bound for [[City of Halifax|Halifax]] , [[Nova Scotia]] on the first transatlantic passenger cruise. * [[July 15]] - [[Austria]], [[United Kingdom|Britain]], [[Prussia]], and [[Russia]] sign a London Treaty with the [[Sublime Porte]], ruler of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. * [[July 23]] - The [[Province of Canada]] is created by the [[Act of Union (1840)|Act of Union]]. * [[August 10]] - [[Fortsas hoax]] - number of book [[Collecting|collector]]s gather to [[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 [[Egypt]]ian Muhammad Ali to retreat from the country. * [[September 16]] - [[Joseph Strutt (philanthropist)|Joseph Strutt]] handed over the deeds and papers concerning the [[Derby Arboretum|Arboretum]], which was to become England's first public park. * [[September 30]] - The frigate [[French ship Belle Poule (1828)|''Belle-Poule'']] arrives in Cherbourg, bringing back the remains of [[Napoléon]] from [[Saint Helena]] to [[France]]. He is buried in the [[Invalides]]. * [[October 7]] - [[William II of the Netherlands|Willem II]] becomes King of the [[Netherlands]]. * [[November 7]] - [[William Henry Harrison]] defeats [[Martin Van Buren]] in the [[U.S. presidential election, 1840|U.S. presidential election]]. * [[December 7]] - [[David Livingstone]] leaves Britain for Africa. * [[December 7]] - [[Stockport Viaduct]] (located in [[Greater Manchester]], [[England]]) was completed in this year. It is the largest brick structure in Western [[Europe]]. ===Undated=== [[Image:Belle-poule-napoleon-couleur.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The frigate Belle-Poule brings back the remains of Napoléon to France.]] * [[Louis Agassiz]] 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 [[ice age]]. * [[Peter II of Brazil|Pedro II]] is declared "of age" prematurely and begins to reassert central control in [[Brazil]]. * [[Mount Allison University]] is founded in [[Sackville, New Brunswick]], [[Canada]]. * [[Washingtonian Temperance Society]] is founded. * First English translation of Goethe's [[Theory of Colours]] by [[Charles Lock Eastlake|Charles Eastlake]] published. *[[Frederick William IV]] starts to rule in [[Prussia]]. ===Ongoing events=== * [[First Opium War]] ([[1839]]-[[1842]]) ==Births== {{Year in other calendars|Japanese=[[Tenpo|Tenpō]] 10 &ndash; 11}} ===January - June=== <!-- Link all dates, even if repeated, for date-format preferences. House style is to repeat dates, not use second-level bullet points. --> * [[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=== <!-- BIRTHS --> <!-- Link all dates, even if repeated, for date-format preferences. House style is to repeat dates, not use second-level bullet points. --> * [[August 4]] - [[Richard von Krafft-Ebing]], German sexologist (d. [[1902]]) * [[October 9]] - [[Simeon Solomon]], British artist (d. [[1905]]) * [[October 16]] - [[Kuroda Kiyotaka]], [[Prime Minister of Japan]] (d. [[1900]]) * [[November 12]] - [[Auguste Rodin]], French sculptor (d. [[1917]]) * [[November 14]] - [[Claude Monet]], French painter (d. [[1926]]) * [[November 21]] - [[Victoria, Princess Royal and Empress Frederick|Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom and Empress of Germany]] (d. [[1901]]) * [[November 29]] - [[Rhoda Broughton]], Welsh writer (d. [[1920]]) ==Deaths== ===January - June=== <!-- Link all dates, even if repeated, for date-format preferences. House style is to repeat dates, not use second-level bullet points. --> * [[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]] - [[Simeon Poisson|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 (US politician)|Thomas Cooper]], American political philosopher (b. [[1759]]) * [[May 26]] - [[William Sidney Smith|Sidney Smith]], British admiral (b. [[1764]]) * [[May 27]] - [[Niccolò Paganini|Nicolò Paganini]], Italian violinist and composer (b. [[1782]]) * [[June 7]] - King [[Frederick William III of Prussia]] (b. [[1770]]) ===July - December=== * [[July 7]] - [[Nikolai Stankevich]], philosopher and poet (b. [[1813]]) * [[August 25]] - [[Karl Leberecht Immermann]], novelist and dramatist (b. [[1796]]) * [[September 11]] - [[Jean-Gabriel Perboyre]], Catholic missionary and martyr in China * [[September 14]] - [[Joseph Smith, Sr.]], father of [[Joseph Smith, Jr.]]. * [[September 18]] - [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque]], polymath (b. [[1783]]) * [[September 20]] - [[José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia]], first leader of independent Paraguay (b. [[1766]]) * [[November 2]] - [[Józef Kossakowski (colonel)]], Polish-Lithuanian statesman (b. [[1771]]) HI [[Category:1840| ]] [[af:1840]] [[am:1840 እ.ኤ.አ.]] [[ar:1840]] [[an:1840]] [[ast:1840]] [[gn:1840]] [[az:1840]] [[bn:১৮৪০]] [[map-bms:1840]] [[be:1840]] [[be-x-old:1840]] [[bh:१८४०]] [[bs:1840]] [[br:1840]] [[bg:1840]] [[ca:1840]] [[cv:1840]] [[cs:1840]] [[co:1840]] [[cy:1840]] [[da:1840]] [[de:1840]] [[et:1840]] [[el:1840]] [[es:1840]] [[eo:1840]] [[eu:1840]] [[fr:1840]] [[fy:1840]] [[ga:1840]] [[gd:1840]] [[gl:1840]] [[ko:1840년]] [[hy:1840]] [[hi:1840]] [[hr:1840.]] [[io:1840]] [[ilo:1840]] [[bpy:মারি ১৮৪০]] [[id:1840]] [[ia:1840]] [[os:1840]] [[is:1840]] [[it:1840]] [[he:1840]] [[jv:1840]] [[ka:1840]] [[csb:1840]] [[sw:1840]] [[ht:1840 (almanak gregoryen)]] [[la:1840]] [[lb:1840]] [[lt:1840 m.]] [[hu:1840]] [[mk:1840]] [[mi:1840]] [[mr:इ.स. १८४०]] [[ms:1840]] [[nah:1840]] [[nl:1840]] [[new:ई सं १८४०]] [[ja:1840年]] [[nap:1840]] [[no:1840]] [[nn:1840]] [[nrm:1840]] [[nov:1840]] [[oc:1840]] [[uz:1840]] [[pi:१८४०]] [[nds:1840]] [[pl:1840]] [[pt:1840]] [[ksh:Joohr 1840]] [[ro:1840]] [[ru:1840 год]] [[se:1840]] [[sa:१८४०]] [[sq:1840]] [[scn:1840]] [[simple:1840]] [[sk:1840]] [[sl:1840]] [[sr:1840]] [[su:1840]] [[fi:1840]] [[sv:1840]] [[tl:1840]] [[ta:1840]] [[tt:1840]] [[te:1840]] [[th:พ.ศ. 2383]] [[tr:1840]] [[uk:1840]] [[vec:1840]] [[wa:1840]] [[vls:1840]] [[zh-yue:1840年]] [[zh:1840年]]