1640 in England
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Events from the year 1640 in the Kingdom of England.
Incumbents
Monarch - Charles I
Events
- 12 January - Thomas Wentworth becomes Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and Earl of Strafford.[1]
- 17 January - John Finch becomes Lord Keeper of the Great Seal.[1]
- 13 April - King Charles I summons the Short Parliament in an attempt to fund the Second Bishops' War against the Scottish Covenanters.[1]
- 17 April - John Pym makes a speech attacking the King in Parliament.[1]
- 4 May - Oliver St John calls on Parliament to outlaw ship money.[1]
- 5 May - The King dismisses the Short Parliament and prepares to attack Scotland.[1]
- 6 May - The Earl of Warwick, Lord Brooke, Lord Saye, John Pym, John Hampden, and Sir Walter Earle arrested.[1]
- 20 August - A Scottish Covenanter army invades Northumberland.[1]
- 28 August - Battle of Newburn: The Covenanter army defeats the English army.[1]
- 26 October - Treaty of Ripon signed between the King and the Covenanters.[1]
- 3 November - The Long Parliament is summoned.[1]
- 25 November - The Earl of Strafford imprisoned in the Tower of London.[1]
- 18 December - Archbishop Laud impeached for treason.[1]
- 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.[2]
Births
- 25 January - William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, soldier and statesman (died 1707)
- 30 March - John Trenchard, statesman (died 1695)
- 7 December (bapt.) - Fabian Stedman, pioneer of change ringing (died 1713)
- 13 December - Robert Plot, naturalist (died 1696)
- 14 December - Aphra Behn, 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 playwright (born 1567)
- 3 June - Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, politician (born 1584)
- 20 October - John Ball, Puritan clergyman (born 1585)
- 8 December - Princess Anne, daughter of King Charles I (born 1637)
- possible - John Ford, dramatist (born 1586)