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. 12 January – Thomas Wentworth becomes Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and Earl of Strafford. 17 January – John Finch becomes Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. 13 April – King Charles I summons the Short Parliament in an attempt to fund the Second Bishops' War against the Scottish Covenanters. 17 April – John Pym makes a speech attacking the King in Parliament. 4 May – Oliver St John calls on Parliament to outlaw ship money. 5 May – the King dismisses the Short Parliament and prepares to attack Scotland. 6 May – the Earl of Warwick, Lord Brooke, Lord Saye, John Pym, John Hampden, and Sir Walter Earle arrested. 11–12 May – attack on Lambeth Palace by a London mob; Archbishop Laud has fled. A young drummer, Benstead, is convicted of treason for encouraging the crowd, hanged, drawn and quartered, and has his head set above London Bridge; and a glover, John Archer, supposed by the authorities to be a leader, becomes the last person in England to be tortured on the rack (in the Tower of London), but does not reveal any other names. 20 August – a Scottish Covenanter army invades Northumberland. 28 August – Battle of Newburn: the Covenanter army defeats the English army. 26 October – Treaty of Ripon signed between the King and the Covenanters. 3 November – the Long Parliament is summoned; it will not be dissolved for 20 years. 25 November – the Earl of Strafford imprisoned in the Tower of London. 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. 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.
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) 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