- Jan 1 Hong Xiuquan, Chinese rebel (d. 1864)
- Jan 8 Johannes Kneppelhout, Dutch writer, born in Leiden, Netherlands (d. 1885)
- Jan 10 Aubrey de Vere, Irish poet & critic (Victorian Observer), born in Toreen, Republic of Ireland (d. 1902)
- Jan 11 James Paget, English surgeon (disease of Paget), born in Great Yarmouth, England (d. 1899)
- Jan 11 Richard Griffith, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1862)
- Jan 12 Jones Mitchell Withers, Mjr General (Confederate Army), (d. 1890)
- Jan 14 Johannes Josephus Viotta, Dutch physician & composer, born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1859)
- Jan 17 Ellen Wood, English author (East Lynne, Pomeroy Abbey), born in Worcester, England (d. 1887)
- Jan 21 Thomas Attwood Walmisley, English organist, composer and educator (Cathedral Music), born in London (d. 1856)
- Jan 24 Abraham van Stolk, Dutch art collector (d. 1896)
- Jan 25 Francis Harrison Pierpont, American lawyer & politician (Union), born in Morgantown, West Virginia (d. 1899)
- Jan 26 Rufus King, American newspaper editor, politician and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in NYC, New York (d. 1876)
- Jan 27 Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, French architect (restored medieval monuments including city of Carcassonne), born in Paris, France (d. 1879)
- Jan 30 Jean-Baptist Capronnier, French-Belgian glass painter, born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1891)