1740 in France

Incumbents

• Monarch - Louis XV

Events

• Vincennes porcelain factory established.
• Approximate date − The mystical tradition called Martinism is established as a masonic high-degree order.

Births

• 12 April − Claude André Deseine, sculptor
• 26 April − Jean-Jacques Paulet, mycologist
• 2 June − Marquis de Sade, nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer
• 6 June − Louis-Sébastien Mercier, dramatist and writer
• 10 July − Louis-Étienne Ricard, politician
• 27 July − Jeanne Baret, first woman to circumnavigate the globe

Full date unknown

• Catherine Éléonore Bénard, noble
• François Cointeraux, architect
• Jean Baptiste François de La Villéon, vice-admiral

Deaths

• 27 January − Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, Prime Minister of France
• 15 February − Nicolas Prosper Bauyn d'Angervilliers, politician
• 2 March − John Gagnier, orientalist
• July − Jacques Barbel, French soldier in Canada

Full date unknown

• Jacques Cassard, naval officer
• Pierre Crozat, art collector
• Jean Soanen, bishop