List of Famous people who died in 1940

Robert Hichens was a British sailor who was part of the deck crew on board the RMS Titanic when she sank on her maiden voyage on 15 April 1912. He was one of six quartermasters on board the vessel and was at the ship's wheel when the Titanic struck the iceberg. He was in charge of Lifeboat #6, where he refused to return to rescue people from the water according to several accounts of those on the boat, including Margaret Brown, who argued with him throughout the early morning. In 1906, he married Florence Mortimore in Devon, England; when he registered for duty aboard the Titanic, his listed address was in Southampton, where he lived with his wife and two children.

Mrs Patrick Campbell, born Beatrice Rose Stella Tanner and known informally as "Mrs Pat", was an English stage actress, best known for appearing in plays by Shakespeare, Shaw and Barrie. She also toured the United States and appeared briefly in films.

Šimon Bárta or Simon Barta was a Czech Roman Catholic bishop.

Wilhelm Robert Karl Anderson was a Russian-Estonian astrophysicist of Baltic German descent who studied the physical structure of the stars.

Father Bronisław Komorowski was a Polish Roman Catholic priest, active in the interwar period in the predominantly German Free City of Danzig. Komorowski, a Polish patriot and educator, was murdered by the Nazi occupiers at Stutthof concentration camp, together with a number of Polish activists captured during the Polish September Campaign. On 13 June 1999, Reverend Komorowski was among 108 Polish martyrs of World War II, beatified in Warsaw by Pope John Paul II.

Michael Staksrud was a Norwegian World Champion in speed skating.

William Augustine Blood Smyth MA was Archdeacon of Killaloe from 1927 until 1938.

Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel was a Russian writer, journalist, playwright, and literary translator. He is best known as the author of Red Cavalry, Story of My Dovecote and The Odessa Tales—stories from the life of Jewish gangsters from Odessa led by Benya Krik. He has been acclaimed as "the greatest prose writer of Russian Jewry". Babel was arrested by the NKVD on 15 May 1939 on fabricated charges of terrorism and espionage, and executed on 27 January 1940.

Billy Hill was an American songwriter, violinist, and pianist who found fame writing Western songs such as "They Cut Down the Old Pine Tree", "The Last Round-Up", "Wagon Wheels", and "Empty Saddles". Hill's most popular song was "The Glory of Love", recorded by Benny Goodman in 1936, and subsequently by Peggy Lee, Otis Redding, Paul McCartney, and others.