1640 in England

← 1639 1638 1637 1640 in England → 1641 1642 1643
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See also:	Other events of 1640

"Chetham’s Life’s Dream A.D. 1640" by Ford Madox Brown, a mural at Manchester Town Hall.

Events from the year 1640 in England .

Incumbents

• Monarch – Charles I

Events

• 5 January – Parliament fixes a quorum of 40 for its proceedings to be transacted. ^[1]
• 12 January – Thomas Wentworth becomes Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and Earl of Strafford. ^[2]
• 17 January – John Finch becomes Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. ^[2]
• 13 April – King Charles I summons the Short Parliament in an attempt to fund the Second Bishops' War against the Scottish Covenanters. ^[2]
• 17 April – John Pym makes a speech attacking the King in Parliament. ^[2]
• 4 May – Oliver St John calls on Parliament to outlaw ship money. ^[2]
• 5 May – the King dismisses the Short Parliament and prepares to attack Scotland. ^[2]
• 6 May – the Earl of Warwick, Lord Brooke, Lord Saye, John Pym, John Hampden, and Sir Walter Earle arrested. ^[2]
• 20 August – a Scottish Covenanter army invades Northumberland. ^[2]
• 28 August – Battle of Newburn: the Covenanter army defeats the English army. ^[2]
• 26 October – Treaty of Ripon signed between the King and the Covenanters. ^[2]
• 3 November – the Long Parliament is summoned; ^[2] it will not be dissolved for 20 years.
• 25 November – the Earl of Strafford imprisoned in the Tower of London. ^[2]
• 11 December – a crowd of 1,500 Londoners presents the Root and Branch petition to the Long Parliament, calling for the abolition of episcopacy in the Church of England.
• 18 December – Archbishop Laud impeached for treason. ^[2]
• undated – Habeas Corpus Act ("An Act for the Regulating the Privie Councell and for taking away the Court commonly called the Star Chamber") passed, abolishing the Star Chamber. ^[3]

Births

• 11 January – Sir Robert Burdett, 3rd Baronet, politician (died 1716)
• 25 January – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, soldier and statesman (died 1707)
• 6 February – William Campion, politician (died 1702)
• 13 February – Richard Edgcumbe, politician (died 1688)
• 29 February – Benjamin Keach, Particular Baptist preacher (died 1704)
• 30 March – John Trenchard, statesman (died 1695)
• 19 June – Thomas Widdrington, politician (died 1660)
• 29 June – Elizabeth Stanhope, Countess of Chesterfield (died 1665) ^[4]
• 12 October – Sir Roger Twisden, 2nd Baronet (died 1703)
• 18 October – William Stanley, Member of Parliament (died 1670)
• 23 October – Elisabeth Pepys, née de St Michel, wife of Samuel (died 1669)
• 28 October – Streynsham Master, colonial administrator (died 1724)
• 5 November – John Verney, 1st Viscount Fermanagh, politician and merchant (died 1717)
• 17 November – Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, née Villiers, a mistress of King Charles II (died 1709)
• 7 December (bapt.) – Fabian Stedman, pioneer of change ringing (died 1713)
• 13 December – Robert Plot, naturalist (died 1696)
• 14 December – Aphra Behn, née Amis, Johnson or Cooper?, author (died 1689)

Deaths

• 14 January – Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry, lawyer and judge (born 1578)
• 25 January – Robert Burton, scholar (born 1577)
• 17 March – Philip Massinger, dramatist (born 1583)
• 22 March – Thomas Carew, poet (born 1595)
• 28 April (bur.) – William Alabaster, poet and dramatist (born 1567)
• 3 June – Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, politician (born 1584)
• 20 October – John Ball, Puritan clergyman (born 1585)
• 13 November – Laurence Chaderton, academic and churchman (born 1536)
• 8 December – Princess Anne, daughter of King Charles I (born 1637)

References

1. Moran, Thomas Francis (1903). The Theory and Practice of the English Government. London: Longmans, Green. pp. 264–265.
2. "British Civil Wars, Commonwealth and Protectorate 1638-60". Archived from the original on 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
3. "Charles I, 1640: An Act for [the Regulating the Privie Councell and for taking away the Court commonly called the Star Chamber]". British History Online. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
4. MacLeod, Catharine (2001). Painted Ladies: women at the court of Charles II. London: National Portrait Gallery. ISBN   9781855143210.