Explore 216 historical events from 1840–1849.
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of …
Arthur Sullivan, English composer (died 1900)
Sir John Cox Bray was a prominent South Australian politician and the first native-born Premier of South Australia (1881–1884).
John Cox Bray, Australian politician, 15th Premier of South Australia (died 1894)
John Quincy Adams Brackett was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. A Republican and temperance advocate, he served one term as the 36th governor of Massachusetts,…
John Q
Hazard Stevens was an American military officer, mountaineer, politician and writer. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Union army during the American Civil War …
Hazard Stevens, American military officer, mountaineer, politician and writer (died 1918)
Carl Paul Gottfried von Linde was a German scientist, engineer, and businessman. He discovered the refrigeration cycle and invented the first industrial-scale air separation and ga…
Carl von Linde, German engineer and academic (died 1934)
Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. As a botanist and …
Jules Dumont d'Urville, French admiral and explorer (born 1790)
Walenty Wilhelm Wańkowicz was a Polish painter. He studied at the Jesuit College in Polotsk, the University of Wilno and the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. He produced…
Walenty Wańkowicz, Belarusian-Polish painter (born 1799)
On 8 May 1842, a train crashed in the cutting between Meudon and Bellevue stations on the railway between Versailles and Paris, France. The train was travelling to Paris when it de…
A train derailed and caught fire near Versailles, France, killing at least 52 people
Clarence Edward Dutton was an American geologist and US Army officer.
Clarence Dutton, American commander and geologist (died 1912)
James Gordon Bennett Jr. was an American publisher. He was the publisher of the New York Herald, founded by his father, James Gordon Bennett Sr. (1795–1872), who emigrated from Sco…
James Gordon Bennett Jr
Abraham Catulle Mendès was a French poet and man of letters. He was associated with the Parnassianist school.
Catulle Mendès, French poet, author, and playwright (died 1909)
Sakaigawa Namiemon was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Katsushika District, Shimōsa Province. He was the sport's 14th yokozuna. Nicknamed "Tanikaze of the Meiji era", h…
Sakaigawa Namiemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 14th Yokozuna (died 1887)
Eliza Orzeszkowa was a Polish novelist and a leading writer of the Positivism movement during the foreign Partitions of Poland. In 1905, together with Henryk Sienkiewicz, she was n…
Eliza Orzeszkowa, Polish author and publisher (died 1910)
Watson Fothergill was a British architect who designed over 100 unique buildings in Nottingham in the East Midlands of England. His influences were mainly from the Gothic Revival a…
Watson Fothergill, English architect, designed the Woodborough Road Baptist Church (died 1928)
Peter Louis Marie Chanel, SM, was a Catholic priest, missionary, and martyr. Chanel was a member of the Society of Mary and was sent as a missionary to Oceania. He arrived on the i…
Peter Chanel, French priest, missionary, and martyr (born 1803)
Joseph Blanco White, born José María Blanco y Crespo, was an Anglo-Spanish political thinker, theologian, and poet.
Joseph Blanco White, Spanish poet and theologian (born 1775)
Benedict Franz von Baader, born Benedikt Franz Xaver Baader, was a Catholic theologian, philosopher, and mining engineer from Germany. Resisting the empiricism of his day, he denou…
Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (born 1765)
Sir David Wilkie was a Scottish painter, especially known for his genre scenes. He painted successfully in a wide variety of genres, including historical scenes, portraits, includi…
David Wilkie, Scottish painter and academic (born 1785)
Peter Andreas Heiberg was a Danish-Norwegian author and philologist. He was born in Vordingborg, Denmark-Norway. The Heiberg ancestry can be traced back to Norway, and has produced…
Peter Andreas Heiberg, Danish philologist and author (born 1758)
Konstantinos Agathophron Nikolopoulos was a Greek composer, philologist and colleague of Adamantios Korais.
Konstantinos Nikolopoulos, Greek composer, archaeologist, and philologist (born 1786)
The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in the United Kingdom on 1 May 1840 but was not valid for use until…
The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom
The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in the United Kingdom on 1 May 1840 but was not valid for use until…
The Penny Black postage stamp becomes valid for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The 1840 Natchez tornado was a deadly tornado that hit Natchez, Mississippi, on Thursday, May 7, 1840. The tornado, while officially unrated, was the second-deadliest tornado in Un…
The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people
Penal transportation was the relocation of convicted criminals, or other persons regarded as undesirable, to a distant place, often a colony, for a specified term; later, specifica…
The penal transportation of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished