1640 in England

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.
 * 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)