1840_in_Scotland
1840 in Scotland
List of events
Events from the year 1840 in Scotland.
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| See also: | List of years in Scotland Timeline of Scottish history 1840 in: The UK • Wales • Elsewhere | ||||
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- 10 January – Uniform Penny Post introduced throughout the United Kingdom, replacing the Uniform Fourpenny Post of 1839. From 6 May, the Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp, becomes valid for prepayment of postage. Advocates of the scheme include Robert Wallace (MP for Greenock) and James Chalmers.
- 14 January – the first known baptisms by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Scotland take place in the River Clyde at Bishopton when Samuel Mulliner, a Scot who joined the church in Canada, baptizes Alexander and Jessie Hay. In May, Orson Pratt preaches from Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh.[1]
- July – last known great auk in the British Isles caught and later killed on the islet of Stac an Armin, St Kilda, Scotland.[2][3][4]
- 4 July – the Cunard Line's 700-ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannia, launched by Robert Duncan & Company at Greenock on 5 February, departs from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the first steam transatlantic passenger mail service. Scottish marine engineer Robert Napier is a major partner in the venture and has supplied the ship's engine.[5]
- 21 July – first burial at the Southern Necropolis in Glasgow.
- 12 August – the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway is opened throughout between Glasgow Bridge Street railway station and Ayr,[6] the first inter-urban railway in Scotland.
- 15 August – foundation stone of the Scott Monument in Edinburgh is laid.[7]
- 31 August – the Slamannan Railway is opened.
- Approximate date – Forglen House, designed by John Smith, is completed.[8]
- 1 January – Dugald Drummond, steam locomotive engineer (died 1912 in England)
- 24 January – George Smith, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles (Catholic) (died 1918)
- 5 February
- Charlotte Carmichael, pioneer of higher education for women (died 1929 in England)
- John Boyd Dunlop, inventor (died 1921 in Ireland)
- 3 March – Hugh Smellie, steam locomotive engineer (died 1891)
- 22 April – Thomas Clouston, psychiatrist (died 1915)
- 15 July – William Wilson Hunter, official of the Indian Civil Service (British India) (died 1900 in England)
- 29 November – James Crichton-Browne, psychiatrist (died 1938)
- J. M. Brydon, architect (died 1901 in England)
- 9 March – George Gleig, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church (born 1753)
- 10 April – Alexander Nasmyth, painter (born 1758)
- "History of the Church in the British Isles". The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
- Rackwitz, Martin (2007). Travels to Terra Incognita: the Scottish Highlands and Hebrides in Early Modern Travellers' Accounts c. 1600 to 1800. Waxmann Verlag. p. 347. ISBN 978-3-8309-1699-4.
- Gaskell, Jeremy (2000). Who Killed the Great Auk?. Oxford University Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-19-856478-2. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
- Fuller, Errol (2003). The Great Auk: The Extinction of the Original Penguin. Bunker Hill Publishing. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-59373-003-1. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
- Kermack, W. R. (1944). 19 Centuries of Scotland. Edinburgh: Johnston. p. 87.
- Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063. CN 8983.
- "History of Edinburgh". Visions of Scotland. Archived from the original on 14 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
- Historic Environment Scotland. "Forglen House (Category A Listed Building) (LB13603)". Retrieved 28 March 2019.