On This Day

April 1840 in History

Events in History


UKPalace of Westminster

Apr 27 Foundation stone for new Palace of Westminster, London, laid by Sarah Barry wife of its architect Charles Barry

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The Palace of Westminster, London
The Palace of Westminster, London
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Birthdays in History

  • Apr 2 Émile Zola, French novelist and critic (J'accuse), born in Paris, France (d. 1902)
  • Apr 20 Odilon Redon [Bertrand-Jean Redon], French symbolist painter, born in Bordeaux (d. 1916)
  • Apr 25 James Dearing, U.S. Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Campbell County, Virginia (d. 1865)
  • Apr 27 Edward Whymper, English mountaineer, 1st to climb Matterhorn (1865), born in London (d. 1911)

Deaths in History

  • Apr 17 Hannah Webster Foster, American author (The Coquette; or, The History of Eliza Wharton), dies at 81
  • Apr 19 Jean-Jacques Lartigue, Roman catholic bishop of Montreal (b. 1777)
  • Apr 25 Siméon-Denis Poisson, French mathematician (Poisson distribution) and physicist, dies at 58