1740 (MDCCXL) was a leap year in the 18th century.

Events

• By the act of English parliament, alien immigrants (including Huguenots and Jews) in the colonies receive British nationality
• Enfield, North Carolina was founded
• Adam Smith enters Balliol College, Oxford
• George Whitefield founds the Bethesda Orphanage
• The song "Rule Britannia" is first performed at Cliveden
• Hertford College, Oxford, founded for first time.

January

February

• February 20 - The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates the town of Newton as Wilmington, North Carolina, named for Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, and patron of Royal Governor Gabriel Johnston.

March

April

May

• May 31 - Friedrich II comes to power in Prussia upon the death of his father, Friedrich Wilhelm I.

June

July

August

September

October

• October 20 - Maria Theresia of Austria inherits the Habsburg hereditary dominions (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and present-day Belgium). However, her succession to the Holy Roman Empire is contested widely because she is a woman.

November

December

• December 16 - Friedrich II of Prussia invades the Habsburg possession of Silesia, starting the War of the Austrian Succession.

Births

• Jacob Schweppes, inventor and founder of the Schweppes Company (d. 1821).
• February 4 - Carl Michael Bellman, swedish poet and composer (d. 1795).
• March - Johann van Beethoven, German musician and father of Ludwig van Beethoven (d. 1792)
• June 2 - Marquis de Sade, French author (d. 1814)
• August 14 - Pope Pius VII (d. 1823)
• August 23 - Emperor Ivan VI of Russia (d. 1846)
• September 29 - Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (d. 1813)
• Juan Andres, Spanish Jesuit (d. 1817)

Deaths

• January 5 - Antonio Lotti, Italian composer (b. 1667)
• January 27 - Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon, Prime Minister of France (b. 1692)
• February 6 - Pope Clement XII (b. 1652)
• March 23 - Olof Rudbeck the Younger, swedish scientist and explorer (b. 1660).
• April 23 - Thomas Tickell, English writer (b. 1685)
• May 31 - King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (b. 1688)
• June 1 - Samuel Werenfels, Swiss theologian (b. 1657)
• June 6 - Alexander Spotswood, British governor of Virginia Colony
• June 17 - William Wyndham, English politician (b. 1687)
• October 5 - Johann Philipp Baratier, German scholar (b. 1721)
• October 20 - Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1685)
• October 28 - Anna I of Russia (b. 1693)
• December 20 - Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, British military officer and statesman (b. 1675)

1740

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