- Dec 3 Rowland Hill, English inventor who introduced 1st adhesive postage stamp (1840), born in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England (d. 1879)
Thomas Carlyle
Dec 4 Thomas Carlyle, Scottish essayist and historian (The French Revolution), born in Ecclefechan, Scotland (d. 1881)
Leopold von Ranke
Dec 21 Leopold von Ranke, German historian who founded the modern concept of source-based history, born in Wiehe, Saxony, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1886)