1640 in England

• Monarch – Charles I

• 5 January – Parliament fixes a quorum of 40 for its proceedings to be transacted.{{cite book|first=Thomas Francis|last=Moran|title=The Theory and Practice of the English Government|location=London|publisher=Longmans, Green|year=1903|pages=264–265}}
• 12 January – Thomas Wentworth becomes Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and Earl of Strafford.{{cite web|url=http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/timelines/1640.htm|title=British Civil Wars, Commonwealth and Protectorate 1638-60|access-date=2007-04-28|archive-date=2012-04-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120419132637/http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/timelines/1640.htm|url-status=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.
• 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.{{cite web|title=Charles I, 1640: An Act for [the Regulating the Privie Councell and for taking away the Court commonly called the Star Chamber]|work=British History Online|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=47221|access-date=2011-01-27}}

• 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){{cite book|last=MacLeod|first=Catharine|title=Painted Ladies: women at the court of Charles II|publisher=National Portrait Gallery|location=London|year=2001|isbn=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)

• 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)

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Category:Years of the 17th century in England