Famous Birthdays
- Dec 1 Archibald Gracie Jr, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1864)
- Dec 8 Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian author "Pa Guds Veje" and Nobel laureate (d. 1910)
- Dec 12 Abraham Carel Wertheim, Dutch banker and philanthropist, born in Amsterdam (d. 1897)
- Dec 14 Daniel H. Reynolds, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Centerburg, Ohio (d. 1902)
Gustave Eiffel
Dec 15 Gustave Eiffel, French engineer and architect who designed and built the Eiffel tower, born in Dijon, France (d. 1923)
Gustave Eiffel
- Dec 19 John Kirk Barry, Scot, Dr/companion to explorer David Livingstone
- Dec 21 John Henry Ketcham, American politician and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Dover Plains, New York (d. 1906)
- Dec 22 Edward Hatch, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Bangor, Maine (d. 1889)
- Dec 25 Thomas Alfred Smyth, Irish-American Major General (Union Army), born in County Cork, Republic of Ireland (d. 1865)
- Dec 27 Pavel Tretyakov, Russian businessman and patron of art, born in Moscow (d. 1897)