1840 in the United Kingdom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Events from the year 1840 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
Events
- 1 January â Trial of Welsh Chartists John Frost, Zephaniah Williams and William Jones for their part in the Newport Rising of 1839 opens at Monmouth before Chief Justice Tindal; this is the first trial where proceedings are recorded in shorthand.
- 10 January â Uniform Penny Post introduced, replacing the Uniform Fourpenny Post of 1839.
- 12 January â Chartist rising in Sheffield aborted.
- 14 January â Chartist rising in the East End of London largely suppressed by police.[1]
- 16 January â Frost, Williams and Jones are all found guilty of high treason for their part in the Chartist riots, and are sentenced to death; the last time the sentence of hanging, drawing and quartering is passed in the UK, although following a nationwide petitioning campaign and direct lobbying of the Home Secretary by the Lord Chief Justice, it is commuted to transportation for life (Frost is eventually pardoned).
- 22 January â British colonists reach New Zealand. Official founding date of Wellington.
- 26 January â Chartist rising in Bradford fails to spread.[1]
- 6 February â Treaty of Waitangi, a document granting British sovereignty in New Zealand, is signed.[2]
- 10 February â Queen Victoria marries her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha[2] in the Royal Chapel at St James's Palace.[3]
- 15 April â King's College Hospital opens in Portugal Street, London.
- 27 April â The foundation stone of the new Palace of Westminster is laid as its reconstruction following the Burning of Parliament in 1834 begins (completed in 1860).[4][5]
- 1 May â Issue of the Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp,[4] together with Mulready stationery. The stamp becomes valid for prepayment of postage from 6 May.[6]
- 5 May - Thomas Carlyle gives the first lecture in the series On Heroes, Hero Worship and the Heroic in History.
- 11 May â Chartist leader Feargus O'Connor is sentenced to imprisonment in York Castle for seditious libel over speeches published in The Northern Star.
- 20 May â York Minster's nave roof is destroyed in an accidental fire.
- 6 June â The first group of British emigrants from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints set sail from Liverpool bound for Nauvoo, Illinois.[7]
- 10 June â Edward Oxford fires a pistol at Queen Victoria in Hyde Park, London.[8]
- 12â23 June â The World Anti-Slavery Convention is organised by the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society at Exeter Hall in London.
- July
- Fresh water is piped to Buxton Market Place by the 6th Duke of Devonshire, beginning the Buxton well dressing festival.
- Last known great auk in the British Isles caught and later killed on the islet of Stac an Armin, St Kilda, Scotland.[9][10][11]
- 4 July â 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.[8]
- 15 July â 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.
- Vaccination Act 1840 provides for free vaccination for the poor and prohibits variolation.
- 7 August â Chimney Sweepers and Chimneys Regulation Act 1840 prohibits the employment of children under the age of 21 as chimney sweeps.[2]
- 10 September â Ottoman and British troops bombard Beirut and land troops on the coast to pressure Egyptian Muhammad Ali to retreat from the country.
- 16 September â Joseph Strutt hands over the deeds and papers concerning the Derby Arboretum, which is to become England's first public park.
- 30 September â Foundation of Nelson's Column laid in London,[2] Trafalgar Square being laid out (as a hectare) and paved during the year.[8]
- 11 October â Maronite leader Bashir Shihab II surrenders to the Ottomans (in alliance with the British) and on 14 October goes into exile, initially in Malta.[12]
- 10 November â The boiler of an experimental steam locomotive named Surprise explodes near Bromsgrove station in Worcestershire, killing the driver, Thomas Scaife and fireman, Joseph Rutherford.[13]
- 8 December â David Livingstone leaves for Africa.[14]
- 21 December â Stockport Viaduct is completed.[15] It is one of the largest brick structures in Europe.
Undated
- The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals gains its Royal status.[4]
- Smallpox epidemic of 1837â40 ends, leaving more than 41,600 dead.[16]
Ongoing
- First Opium War (1839â1842)
- First Anglo-Afghan War (1839â1842)
Publications
- W. Harrison Ainsworth's historical 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).
- Agnes Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England begins publication.
- 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".[17][18][19]
Births
- 1 January â Dugald Drummond, Scottish-born railway locomotive engineer (died 1912)
- 18 January â Henry Austin Dobson, poet and essayist (died 1921)
- 26 January â John Clayton Adams, landscape painter (died 1906)
- 5 February â John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish-born inventor (died 1921)
- 29 February â John Philip Holland, Irish-born submarine designer (died 1914)
- 30 March â Charles Booth, shipowner and social reformer (died 1916)
- 31 March â Benjamin Baker, civil engineer (died 1907)
- 27 April â Edward Whymper, mountaineer (died 1911)
- 2 June â Thomas Hardy, novelist and poet (died 1928)
- 20 June â George Selwyn Marryat, fly fisherman (died 1896)
- 21 June â Edward Stanley Gibbons, philatelic stamp dealer (died 1913)
- 9 October â Simeon Solomon, painter (died 1905)
- 21 November â Victoria, Princess Royal (died 1901)
- 29 November â Rhoda Broughton, fiction writer (died 1920)
Deaths
- 6 January â Frances Burney, novelist (born 1752)
- 18 February â Sir Jeffry Wyattville, architect and garden designer (born 1766)
- 30 March â Beau Brummell, arbiter of fashion (born 1778)
- 7 April â William Heath, caricaturist (born 1794)
- 15 April â Thomas Drummond, army officer, civil engineer and public official (born 1797)
- 1 May â Joseph Williamson, philanthropist and builder of Williamson's tunnels (born 1769)
- 26 May â Sidney Smith, admiral (born 1764)
- 28 July â John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham (born 1792)
- 22 September
- Princess Augusta Sophia of the United Kingdom (born 1768)
- Anne Lister, landowner, diarist, mountaineer and traveller, "the first modern lesbian" (born 1791)