Authors born in 1840
- Alfred Thayer Mahan Military Officer, 1840
- Alphonse Daudet Novelist, 1840
- August Bebel Politician, 1840
- Auguste Rodin Sculptor, 1840
- Carl Menger Economist, 1840
- Chief Joseph Leader, 1840
- Claude Monet Painter, 1840
- D. A. Fisher Mayor, 1840
- David J. Cook Lawyer, 1840
- Edward Whymper Painter, 1840
- Elizabeth Wordsworth Author, 1840
- Emile Zola Novelist, 1840
- Georgiana Burne-Jones Author, 1840
- John Lancaster Spalding Author, 1840
- Jozef De Veuster Priest, 1840
- Judith Ellen Foster Lecturer, 1840
- Nathan Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild Banker, 1840
- Odilon Redon Painter, 1840
- Palmer Cox Illustrator, 1840
- R. Heber Newton Priest, 1840
- Samuel Ullman Poet, 1840
- Thomas Hardy Novelist, 1840
- William Cosmo Monkhouse Poet, 1840
- William Graham Sumner Scientist, 1840