- Aug 7 Evander M. Law, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Darlington, South Carolina (d. 1920)
- Aug 10 Jose Teodor Vilar, composer
- Aug 11 Cato M. Guldberg, Norwegian mathematician and chemist (law of mass action), born in Christiania, Norway (d. 1902)
- Aug 11 Warren Brown, American politician (d. 1919)
- Aug 14 Walter Besant, English writer and philanthropist (Rebel Queen), born in Portsmouth, Hampshire (d. 1901)
- Aug 16 John Farmer, English composer, born in Nottingham (d. 1901)
- Aug 22 Archibald M Willard, American artist (Spirit of '76), born in Bedford, Ohio (d. 1918)
- Aug 23 Marie Henriette of Austria, Queen of the Belgians, born in Buda Castle, Budapest, Hungary (d. 1902)
- Aug 25 Bret Harte, American author (Outcasts of Poker Flat), born in Albany, New York (d. 1902)