* 1740 – Jean Baptiste Camille Canclaux, French general ( d. 1817 )

* 1688 – Frederick William I of Prussia ( d. 1740 )

* 1740 – Pope Pius VII ( d. 1823 )

* 1740 – Matthias Claudius, German poet ( d. 1815 )

The last maker of the family was Nicolo's son, Girolamo Amati, known as Hieronymus II ( February 26, 1649 – February 21, 1740 ).

* 1740 – Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, English merchant banker ( d. 1810 )

* 1752 – Start of Konbaung-Hanthawaddy War, a new phase in Burmese Civil War ( 1740 – 1757 )

* 1740 – War of Jenkin's Ear: Three British ships capture the Spanish third-rate Princesa.

* 1740 – Samuel Arnold, English composer and organist ( d. 1802 )

* 1652 – Pope Clement XII ( d. 1740 )

In 1740, Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great ( 1740 – 1786 ), came to power.

( 1739 – 1740 )

Meanwhile, under the direction of Benedict XIV ( pope 1740 – 1758 ), a special congregation collected much material for an official revision, but nothing was published.

1710 – 14 October 1740 ) was an Italian singer, harpsichordist, and composer whose works bridge the Baroque and Classical periods.

* 1814 – Marquis de Sade, French writer ( b. 1740 )

* 1740 – Arthur Lee, American diplomat ( d. 1792 )

In 1757, he married Mary ( Polly ) Howard ( 1740 – 1770 ).

Elias Boudinot ( ; May 2, 1740 – October 24, 1821 ) was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress and was elected as a U. S. Congressman for New Jersey following the American Revolutionary War.

* 1740 – Pietro Ottoboni, Italian cardinal ( b. 1667 )

* 1693 – Empress Anna of Russia ( d. 1740 )

* 1740 – Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver ( d. 1813 )

The Royal Navy captured a handful of the new French frigates during the War of the Austrian Succession ( 1740 – 1748 ) and were impressed by them, particularly for their inshore handling capabilities.

Frederick William I () ( 14 August 1688 – 31 May 1740 ) was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg ( as Frederick William II ) from 1713 until his death.

He was born in Padingbüttel and worked as organist and composer at Stade's St. Cosmae et Damiani ( 1675 – 1702 ) and Hamburg's famous St. Nikolai ( 1702 – 1740 ), where he played one of the largest contemporary organs.

These included leading figures of the European ' Enlightenment ' including the philosophers Voltaire, 1694 – 1778 ) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau ( 1712 – 1778 ); the future US Presidents John Adams ( 1735 – 1826 ) and Thomas Jefferson ( 1743 – 1826 ); Benjamin Franklin ( 1706 – 1790 ); the German landscape artist Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau ; the Italian statesman Giuseppe Garibaldi ( 1807 – 1882 ); Russian Tsars Nicholas I ( 1796 – 1855 ) and Alexander I ( 1777 – 1825 ); the king of Persia ; Queen Victoria ( 1819 – 1901 ) and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg ( 1819 – 61 ); Sir Walter Scott ( 1771 – 1832 ); Prince Leopold III, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau ( 1740 – 1817 ); Prime Ministers William Ewart Gladstone ( 1809 – 1898 ) and Sir Robert Walpole ( 1676 – 1745 ); Queen Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach ( 1683 – 1737 ); John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute ( 1713 – 92 ) his architect William Burges ( 1827 – 1881 ) and the present Prince of Wales and Princess Margaret.

On 27 September 2006, amateur radio transmissions in the 30 m band were affected by an English-language " Russian Man " number station at 1740 UTC.

Bashkirs fought on both sides ( 40 % of ' Russian ' troops in 1740 ).

Ernst Johann von Biron (; ; – ) was a Duke of Courland and Semigallia ( 1737 ) and regent of the Russian Empire ( 1740 ).

Finally, on October 26, 1740, a so-called “ positive declaration ” signed by 194 dignitaries, in the name of the Russian nation, conferred the regency on Biron.

Despite the frantic protests of the Caps, a project for the invasion of Russian Finland was rushed through the premature Riksdag of 1740.

On 5 October 1740 the empress Anna adopted their new-born son Ivan and proclaimed him heir to the Russian throne.

Biron, however, had made himself an object of detestation to the Russian people, and after Biron had threatened to exile Anna and her spouse to Germany, Anna Leopoldovna had little difficulty in overthrowing him ( 8 November 1740 ).

Artemy Petrovich Volynsky ( Russian: Арте ́ мий Петро ́ вич Волы ́ нский ) ( 1689 – 1740 ) was a Russian statesman and diplomat.

It happened then that Charlotte Christine father, was thus not only the father in law of the Russian tsarevich, but also the father in law of the now Emperor of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles VI of Austria, ( October 1, 1685 – October 20, 1740, aged 55 ), the would be supposed King of the mighty Spanish Empire during the Spanish Succession War, a European War involving several of the most politically significant West European Powers.

He had taken part in all of the Russian wars up until 1740, then he presided the Voiennaia Kolleguia ( ministere of army ).

* Ernst Johann von Biron, ( 1690 – 1769 ), Russian regent 1740, sovereign Duke of Courland ( 1737 – 40, 1763 – 72 )

* August 28 – Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine, French general ( executed ) ( b. 1740 )

; 1740: Parliament of Great Britain passes a general act permitting Jews to be naturalized in the American colonies.

Baji Rao Ballal Balaji Bhat () ( August 18, 1700 – April 28, 1740 ), also known as Baji Rao I, was a noted general who served as Peshwa ( Prime Minister ) to the fourth Maratha Chhatrapati ( Emperor ) Shahu from 1720 until Baji Rao's death.

Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine ( February 4, 1740 – August 28, 1793 ) was a French general.

Shrimant Baji Rao Vishwanath Bhatt ( August 18, 1700-April 25, 1740 ), also known as Baji Rao I, was a noted general who served as Peshwa ( Prime Minister ) to the fourth Maratha Chhatrapati ( Emperor ) Shahu between 1720 until death.

Pinckney was long prominent in colonial affairs, serving as attorney general of the Province of South Carolina in 1733, speaker of the assembly in 1736, 1738 and 1740, chief justice of the province in 1752 – 1753, and agent for South Carolina in England in 1753 – 1758.

John Sullivan ( 1740 – 1795 ) was a United States general and delegate to the Continental Congress.

* Louis Henri de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon ( 18 August 1692 – 27 January 1740 ) son of Louis III, Prince of Condé and Louise-Françoise de Bourbon, he was thus the nephew of Philippe d ' Orléans and was the Prime Minister of France 1723 – 26 ; he was a great rival of the Regent and the House of Orléans in general ;

* Clement Biddle ( 1740 – 1814 ) American Revolutionary War soldier, helped organize the “ Quaker Blues " volunteers, deputy quartermaster general of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey militia, brother of Owen Biddle, Sr.

In 1740 Parliament passed a general act permitting foreign Jews to be naturalized in the colonies.

* Jean-Nicolas Houchard ( 1740 – 1793 ), general, whose name appears on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris

In 1739 was appointed secretary of Ireland by the lord-lieutenant, William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire ; being chosen Member of Parliament for the borough of East Looe in 1740, and for Orford, Suffolk, at the general election in the succeeding year.

Joseph Martin ( 1740 – 1808 ) was a brigadier general in the Virginia militia during the American Revolutionary War, in which Martin's frontier diplomacy with the Cherokee people is credited with averting Indian attacks on the Scotch-Irish American and English American settlers who helped win the battles of Kings Mountain and Cowpens.

Mastani ( died 1740 ) was the wife of Peshwa Baji Rao I ( 1699 – 1740 ), an Indian general and prime minister to the fourth Maratha Chhatrapati ( Emperor ) Shahuji.

Somervile's account of the 1740 Games describes a general riot in which " chairs, and forms, and battered bowls are hurled / With fell intent ; like bombs the bottles fly ".

General Sir Robert Abercromby GCB ( 1740 – 1827 ), the youngest brother of Sir Ralph Abercromby, was a general in the army, a knight of the Bath, and at one period the governor of Bombay and commander-in-chief of the British forces in India.