- Aug 2 Elisha Grey, American electrical engineer and inventor (Telephone), born in Barnesville, Ohio (d. 1901)
- Aug 8 James William Forsyth, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Maumee, Ohio (d. 1906)
- Aug 10 Gyula Beliczay, Hungarian pianist, composer, teacher, and engineer, born in Révkomárom, Hungary (now in Slovakia) (d. 1893)
- Aug 14 Tom King, English boxer (English heavyweight champion 1862-63), rower and bookmaker, born in London, England (d. 1888)
- Aug 26 Theodore Washington Brevard, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Tuskegee, Alabama (d. 1882)
- Aug 27 Albijn van de Abeele, Flemish author and painter, born in Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium (d. 1918)