1640 in England

1640 thumb|right | "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.Thomas Francis Moran The Theory and Practice of the English Government London Longmans, Green 1903 264–265 12 January – Thomas Wentworth becomes Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and Earl of Strafford.http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/timelines/1640.htm British Civil Wars, Commonwealth and Protectorate 1638-60 2007-04-28 2012-04-19 https://web.archive.org/web/20120419132637/http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/timelines/1640.htm dead 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.Gardiner S. R. Samuel Rawson Gardiner History of England from the Accession of James I to the Outbreak of the Civil War IX: 1603-1642 1884 repr. 1965 AMS 314362217 New York A young drummer, Benstead, is convicted of treason for encouraging the crowd, hanged, drawn and quartered, and has his head set above London Bridge;Walter John 'This Infamous, Scandalous, Headless Insurrection': The Attack on William Laud and Lambeth Palace, May 1640, Revisited The English Historical Review Oxford University Press 2024 1–29 10.1093/ehr/ceae156 free 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.372 Go On Vigorously David Crowther 2023 https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/blog/2023/04/23/372-go-on-vigorously/ The History of England 2026-07-26 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.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 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47221 2011-01-27 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)MacLeod Catharine Painted Ladies: women at the court of Charles II National Portrait Gallery London 2001 9781855143210 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 1640 Category:Years of the 17th century in England England