Events from the year 1838 in Sweden

• Monarch – Charles XIV John

• 7 March – Jenny Lind as her breakthrough in Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm.
• The state licensed brothels, London and Stadt Hamburg, open in the capital in an attempt by the city authorities to control the spread of sexual disease.^[1]
• - Rabulist riots
• - First issue of Borås Tidning
• - First issue of Östgöta Correspondenten
• - Foundation of the philanthropic sewing society by Emilie Petersen.

• 20 July – Paul Peter Waldenström, theologian (died 1917)
• 14 September - Hanna Ouchterlony, Salvationist (died 1924)
• 4 December - Hanna Winge, painter (died 1896)
• - Hilda Petrini, watch maker (died 1895)
• - Betty Pettersson, first female university student (died 1885)
• - Hedvig Raa-Winterhjelm, actress and drama teacher (died 1907)
• - Axel Elmlund, ballet dancer and stage actor (died 1901)