- Aug 4 Walter Pater, writer (Plato & Platoism), born in London, England
- Aug 8 Nelson Appleton Miles, American Major General (Union Army), born in Westminster, Massachusetts (d. 1925)
- Aug 10 Aleksandr Grigorievich Stoletov, Russian physicist (d. 1896)
- Aug 15 Hugh Archibald Clarke, Canadian organist, composer, and educator (The Music of The Spheres), born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 1927)
- Aug 17 Hubert Platt Main, American hymn composer, and music publisher, born in Ridgefield, Connecticut (d. 1925)
- Aug 17 Thijs [Matthijs] Maris, Dutch painter/etcher
- Aug 19 Oskar Brefeld, German botanist and founder of modern mycology, born in Telgte, Germany (d. 1925)
- Aug 24 Eduard Napravnik, Czech conductor and composer, born in Býšť, Czech Republic (d. 1916)
- Aug 27 Emory Upton, Bvt Major General (Union Army), born in Batavia, New York (d. 1881)
- Aug 30 Gulstan Ropert, French Roman Catholic prelate, born in Kerfago, Brittany, France (d. 1903)