Thomas Edison
Feb 11 Thomas Edison, American inventor (lightbulb, phonograph, motion picture camera), born in Milan, Ohio (d. 1931)
Thomas Edison
- Feb 14 Anna Howard Shaw, American suffragette, born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England (d. 1919)
- Feb 14 Maria Pia of Savoy, Queen of Portugal, born in Roal Palace, Turin, Sardinia (d. 1911)
- Feb 15 Robert Fuchs, composer
- Feb 16 Ludwig Philipp Scharwenka, German composer (Album polonaise)
- Feb 25 John Watson, Canadian philosopher (Objective Idealism)
- Feb 27 Ellen Alice Terry, British Shakespearean actress and director (Imperial Theatre), born in Coventry, Warwickshire, England (d. 1928)
Alexander Graham Bell
Mar 3 Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born British-American inventor (telephone), born in Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 1922)
Alexander Graham Bell
Kate Sheppard
Mar 10 Kate Sheppard, New Zealand suffragette and the most prominent member of New Zealand's women's suffrage movement, born in Liverpool, England (d. 1934)
Kate Sheppard
- Mar 14 Antonio de Castro Alves, Brazilian poet (Espumas Flutuantes), born in Muritiba, Brazil (d. 1871)
- Mar 19 Constantin Dimitrescu, composer
- Mar 23 Alexandru D Xenopol, Romania, historian
- Mar 27 Otto Wallach, German chemist (Nobel 1910), born in Königsberg, Germany (d. 1931)
- Mar 31 Jarolslaw Zielinski, composer
- Mar 31 Yegor Ivanovich Zolotarev, Russian mathematician (d. 1878)
- Apr 1 Gavriil Musicescu, composer
- Apr 1 Jules-Nicolas Crevaux, French explorer (South America)
- Apr 7 J. P. [Jens Peter] Jacobsen, Danish writer (Niels Lyhne), born in Thisted, Jutland (d. 1885)
- Apr 9 Paolo Tosti, Italian composer, born in Ortona, Italy (d. 1916)
- Apr 9 Francis William Davenport, English composer, born in Wilderslowe, Derby (d. 1925)
- Apr 10 Charles Swinnerton Heap, English composer, born in Birmingham, England (d. 1900)
- Apr 10 Joseph Pulitzer, Hungarian publisher (St Louis Post-Dispatch, NY World), born in Makó, Kingdom of Hungary, Austrian Empire (d. 1911)
- Apr 13 Cornelis Pijnacker Hordijk, Dutch jurist and Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1888-93), born in Wadenoijen, Netherlands (d. 1908)
- Apr 16 Hans Auer, Swiss-Austrian architect, born in Wädenswil, Switerland (d. 1906)
Archibald Primrose
May 7 Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, British Prime Minister (Liberal: 1894-95), born in London (d. 1929)
Archibald Primrose
- May 10 Wilhelm Killing, German mathematician (d. 1923)
- May 13 Johannes Haarklou, composer
- May 25 Alphonse Goovaerts, Belgian composer and musicologist (Histoire et Bibliographie de la Typographie Musicale dans les Pays-Bas), born in Antwerp, Belgian (d. 1922)
- May 25 John Alexander Dowie, Scottish-American evangelist (founded the city of Zion, Illinois), born in Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 1907)
- May 30 Alice Stopford Green, Irish historian and proponent of Irish independence, born in Kells, Ireland (d. 1929)
- Jun 6 Gerben Postma, [Ids], Frisian writer (Swealtsjeblommen)
- Jun 8 Ida McKinley, US First Lady (1897-1901) and wife of the 25th US President William McKinley, born in Canton, Ohio (d. 1907)
- Jun 11 Millicent Fawcett, English leader of women's rights, born in London (d. 1929)
- Jun 24 Gaston Salvayre, French composer, born in Toulouse, France (d. 1916)
- Jun 28 Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson, Icelandic composer (Lofsöngur - National Anthem of Iceland), born in Seltjarnarnes, Iceland (d. 1927)
- Jun 30 Jacob Theodoor Cremer, Dutch tobacco magnate and administrator for the Deli Company in Sumatra, born in Zwolle, Netherlands (d. 1923)
- Jul 2 Marcel Bertrand, French geologist and mine engineer (tectonic geology), born in Paris (d. 1907)
James Anthony Bailey
Jul 4 James Anthony Bailey, American circus ringmaster and showman (Barnum & Bailey), born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1906)
James Anthony Bailey
- Jul 5 Agnes Zimmermann, German composer, born in Cologne, Germany (d. 1925)
- Jul 20 Max Liebermann, German impressionist painter
- Jul 31 Ignatio Cervantes, Cuban pianist and composer (Danzas Cubanas), born in Havana (d. 1905)
- Aug 1 Guido Papini, Italian violinist and composer, born in Camaiore, Italy (d. 1912)
- Aug 3 Jan de Louter, Dutch lawyer and tutor of Dutch Queen Wilhelmina, born in Amersfoort, Netherlands (d. 1932)
- Aug 9 Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo, Queen consort of Spain (1870-73), born in Paris (d. 1876)
- Aug 14 Robert Comtesse, Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1899-1912), born in Valangin, Sweden (d. 1922)
- Aug 20 Bolesław Prus, Polish writer (The Outpost), born in Hrubieszów, Congress Poland (d. 1912)
- Aug 20 Andrew Greenwood, English cricketer (batted in England's 1st 2 Tests 1877), born in Cowmes, Huddersfield, Yorkshire (d. 1889)
- Aug 22 Alexander Campbell Mackenzie, Scottish composer, born in Edinburgh (d. 1935)
- Aug 23 Sarah Frances Whiting, American physicist and astronomer, born in Wyoming, New York (d. 1927)
- Aug 27 Gustave J Waffelaert, Flemish theologist and bishop of Bridge, born in Rollegem, Belgium (d. 1931)
- Aug 31 Arthur Verhaegen, Belgian architect and worker's union leader, born in Brussels (d. 1917)
- Sep 2 Roger Wolcott, 39th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1900)
Jesse James
Sep 5 Jesse James, American outlaw and son of a clergyman, born in Kearney, Missouri (d. 1882)
Jesse James
- Sep 13 Charles Dupee Blake, American composer, born in Walpole, Massachusetts (d. 1903)
- Sep 14 William Edward Ayrton, English Physicist and Inventor, born in London, England (d. 1908)
- Sep 16 Albert Ross Parsons, American composer, born in Sandusky, Ohio (d. 1933)
- Sep 20 Sergey Nechayev, Russian Nihilist (Catechism Revolutionary), born in Ivanovo, Russia (d. 1882)
- Sep 30 Wilhelmina E Drucker, [Lensing], Dutch feminist
- Oct 1 Annie Besant, English social reformer and supporter of Indian independence, born in London (d. 1933)
Paul von Hindenburg
Oct 2 Paul von Hindenburg, German WW1 general and President of Germany (1925-34), born in Posen, Duchy of Posen, Prussia (d. 1934)
Paul von Hindenburg
- Oct 6 Adolf von Hildebrand, German sculptor, born in Marburg, Germany (d. 1921)
- Oct 9 Andre Dumont, Belgian mine engineer (Limburg's coal basin), born in Liège, Belgium (d. 1920)
- Oct 9 Stephanus Jacobus du Toit, South African theologist and journalist (Afrikaner Bond), born in Paarl, South Africa (d. 1911)
- Oct 10 Gheorghe Dima, Romanian composer, born in Șcheii Brașovului, Romania (d. 1925)
- Oct 21 Guiseppe Giacosa, Italian songwriter (libretti opera Puccini)
- Oct 22 Jacobus Herculas de la Rey, Boer leader in the South African War (1899–1902), born in Winburg, South Africa (d. 1914)
- Oct 31 Galileo Ferraris, Italian physicist and electrical engineer, born in Livorno Ferraris, Italy (d. 1897)
- Nov 1 Emma Albani, Canadian operatic soprano, born in Chambly, United Province of Canada (d. 1930)
- Nov 2 Georges Sorel, French philosopher and theorist of Sorelianism, born in Cherbourg, France (d. 1922)
Bram Stoker
Nov 8 Bram Stoker, Irish theater manager and author (Dracula), born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 1912)
Bram Stoker
- Nov 8 Jean Casimir-Périer, French politician (President of France 1894-95), born in Paris (d. 1907)
- Nov 16 Edmund James Flynn, Canadian politician (10th Premier of Quebec), born in Percé, Canada (d. 1927)
- Nov 26 Maria Feodorovna, Princess of Denmark and Empress of Russia, born in Yellow Palace, Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1928)
- Nov 30 August Klughardt, German composer, born in Köthen, Germany (d. 1902)
- Dec 1 Agathe Grondahl, composer
- Dec 2 Deacon White, American Baseball Hall of Fame catcher (NL batting champion, RBI leader 1877); Boston Red Stockings), born in Caton, New York (d. 1939)
- Dec 7 Solomon Schechter, Moldavian-American Talmudic scholar and rabbi, born in Focşani, Moldavia (d. 1915)
- Dec 9 George Grossmith, British actor, comedian and writer (The Diary of a Nobody, A Society Clown), born in London, England (d. 1912)
- Dec 16 Augusta Holmes, Irish-French pianist and composer, born in Paris, France (d. 1903)
- Dec 17 Émile Faguet, French writer and critic (d. 1916)
- Dec 30 John Peter Altgeld, German/US (Gov-Ill)/pardoned Haymarket-anarchists