There has never been a rule as to where a deceased person had to be buried, and it can be very difficult to locate an individual. The churchyards in the central London area were generally closed starting in 1853. St Mary Whitechapel was so closed, but not until the 1870s. Mile End Old Town was still within the ancient parish of St Dunstan Stepney, whose burial ground was still open in 1840. The local Cemetery, Tower Hamlets Cemetery, was not open until the next year, 1841. Almost all the local records of burial are at London Metropolitan Archives and have been digitised by Ancestry.com and are available to subscribers to search. Ancestry have also indexed the post 1813 burials, though it has to be said that the indexing is rather hit and miss, and certainly a search of each register showing burials available in 1840 in the "Tower Hamlets" section is the most likely way to find someone dying in London or Whitechapel Hospital in 1840. Regards Cliff Webb