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)