- May 9 Alexander Ross, Canadian fur trader, born in Morayshire, Scotland (d. 1856)
- May 10 Niccola Benvenuti, composer
- May 22 Thomas Forbes Walmisley, English composer, born in Westminster, London (d. 1866)
- May 25 Philip Pendleton Barbour, American politician and U.S. Supreme Court justice, born in Gordonsville, Virginia (d. 1841)