- Jan 1 John Goff, Irish lawyer (d. 1924)
- Jan 4 Katsura Taro, Japanese general and politician (Prime Minister of Japan 1901-1906, 1908-1911, 1912-1913), born in Hagi, Japan (d. 1913)
- Jan 5 Khristo Botev, Bulgarian poet & nationalist revolutionary, born in Kalofer, Bulgaria (d. 1876)
- Jan 5 Same Steele, Canadian soldier, born in Purbrook, Canada West (d. 1919)
- Jan 9 Princess Frederica of Hanover (d. 1926)
- Jan 18 Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer (d. 1925)
- Jan 19 John F. Stairs, Canadian businessman (d. 1904)
Matthew Webb (1848-1883)
Jan 19 English long distance swimmer who was first to swim unassisted across the English Channel, born in Dawley, England
- Jan 21 Henri Duparc, French composer, born in Paris, France (d. 1933)
- Jan 22 Samuel Muller Fz, Dutch historian and archivist (Middle Ages) (d. 1922)
- Jan 24 Vasily Surikov, Russian painter (d. 1916)
- Jan 27 Tōgō Heihachirō, Imperial Japanese Navy admiral and one of Japan's greatest naval heroes, born in Kajiya-Chō, Kagoshima-Jōka, Satsuma, Japan (d. 1934)
- Feb 4 Jean Aicard, French playwright and poet (Jeune Croyances), born in Toulon, France (d. 1921)
- Feb 5 Belle Starr [Myra Belle Shirley] American outlaw (American wild west), born in Carthage, Missouri (d. 1889)
- Feb 5 Ignacio Carrera Pinto, Chilean war hero (d. 1882)
- Feb 5 Joris-Karl Huysmans, French writer (Against the Grain), born in Paris, France (d. 1907)
- Feb 6 Luigi Mancinelli, Italian orchestral composer, born in Orvieto, Italy (d. 1921)
- Feb 14 Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer, born in Chalon-sur-Saône, France (d. 1934)
- Feb 16 Hugo de Vries, Dutch botanist and geneticist who rediscovered Mendel's theory of heredity and for his work on genes (The Mutation Theory), born in Haarlem, Netherlands (d. 1935)
- Feb 17 Louisa Lawson, Australian writer, publisher (The Dawn) and suffragist who founded The Dawn Club, born in Gulgong, New South Wales (d. 1920)
- Feb 18 Louis Comfort Tiffany, American artist and designer known for his glasswork (Tiffany & Co), born in New York City (d. 1933)
- Feb 20 Edward Henry Harriman, American railroad executive (d. 1909)
- Feb 23 Thomas Payne Westendorf, American songwriter ("I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen"), born in Bowling Green, Virginia (d. 1923)
- Feb 24 Andrew Inglis Clark, Tasmanian politician (d. 1907)
- Feb 24 Grant Allen, Canadian writer (Woman Who Did), born in Alwington, Ontario (d. 1899)
- Feb 24 Johanna Barbiers, Dutch actress (Voddenraper of Paris), born in Zaandam, The Netherlands (d. 1927)
- Feb 27 Hubert Parry, English musicologist and composer (Jerusalem), born in Bournemouth, England (d. 1918)
- Mar 1 Augustus Saint-Gaudens, American sculptor and designer (Saint Gaudens Double Eagle $20 gold piece), born in Dublin, United Kingdom (d. 1907)
- Mar 3 Adelaide Neilson, English stage actress (The Hunchback), born in Leeds, England (d. 1880)
- Mar 9 Martin Pierre Joseph Marsick, Belgian composer, born in Jupille-sur-Meuse, Liège, Belgium (d. 1924)
- Mar 17 Horace Nicholl, British composer, born in Tipton, England (d. 1922)
- Mar 18 Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, American yacht designer (6 x undefeated America's Cup campaigns 1893-1920) and naval architect (built first torpedo boat for US Navy), born in Bristol, Rhode Island (d. 1938)
- Mar 18 Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, daughter of Queen Victoria (d. 1939)
Wyatt Earp (1848-1929)
Mar 19 American frontiersman and marshal who participated in the gunfight at the OK Corral, born in Monmouth, Illinois
- Mar 24 Honoré Beaugrand, Quebec journalist and newspaper publisher (La Patrie) (d. 1906)
- Mar 25 William Keith Brooks, American marine zoologist (anatomy and embryology of marine animals), born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 1908)
- Mar 29 Aleksei Kuropatkin, Russian general and minister of War, born in Sheshurino, Russia (d. 1925)
- Mar 31 John Henry Roberts, Welsh organist, hymn composer, and pedagogue, born in Pen-rallt, Caernarfonshire, Wales (d. 1924)
- Apr 7 Randall Thomas Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1930)
- Apr 9 Francis MacKinnon, English cricket batsman (1 Test; Kent CCC) and 35th Chief of MacKinnon clan, born in London, England (d. 1947)
- Apr 9 Helene Lange, German feminist (honoured with the Grand Prussian State Medal), born in Oldenburg, Germany (d. 1930)
- Apr 12 José Gautier Benítez, Puerto Rican poet, born in Caguas, Puerto Rico (d. 1880)
- Apr 16 Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Indian social reformer from Andhra Pradesh, born in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India (d. 1919)
- Apr 27 Otto I of Bavaria, King of Bavaria (1886-1913), born in The Residence, Munich (d. 1916)
- Apr 28 Ludvig Schytte, Danish pianist, composer, and educator, born in Aarhus, Denmark (d. 1909) [1] [2]
- Apr 29 Raja Ravi Varma, Indian painter, born in Kilimanoor, Travancore (d. 1906)
- May 5 Adalbert von Goldschmidt, Austrian composer, born in Vienna, Austrian Empire (d. 1906)
- May 12 Cyrill Kistler, German composer, educator, and music theorist, born in Großaitingen, Swabia, Germany (d. 1907)
- May 15 Viktor Vasnetsov, Russian painter (d. 1926)
- May 23 Helmuth von Moltke, German general (German chief of staff at outbreak of WWI), born in Gersdorff, Mecklenburg (d. 1916)
- May 23 Otto Lilienthal, German pioneer aviator (explored winged flight through gliders), born in Anklam, Prussia (d. 1896)
- Jun 1 Otto Valdemar Malling, Danish organist and composer (Det hellige Land, opus 46), born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1915)
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)
Jun 7 French post-impressionist painter who worked in French Polynesia, born in Paris
- Jun 24 Brooks Adams, American philosopher (Theory of Social Revolutions), born in Quincy, Massachusetts (d. 1927)
- Jul 9 Robert I, Duke of Parma, last ruling Duke of Parma, born in Florence, Tuscany (d. 1907)
- Jul 15 Vilfredo Pareto, Italian economist and sociologist (Pareto’s law of income distribution, popularised the term 'elite'), born in Paris, France (d. 1923)
- Jul 16 Henri Viotta, Dutch conductor and composer (Lexicon of Music), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1933)
W. G. Grace (1848-1915)
Jul 18 English cricket all-rounder and captain (22 Tests; 54,896 runs over record 44 first class seasons; Gloucestershire), born in Bristol, England
Arthur Balfour (1848-1930)
Jul 25 British Prime Minister (Conservative: 1902-05) and Foreign Secretary (Balfour Declaration), born in Whittingehame House, East Lothian, Scotland
- Jul 27 Friedrich Ernst Dorn, German physicist who discovered that radon is emitted from radium, born in Guttstadt, Province of Prussia (now Warmia in Poland) (d. 1916)
- Jul 27 Vladimir de Pachmann, Russian-German pianist, born in Odessa, Ukraine (d. 1933)
- Jul 27 [Roland] Loránd Eötvös, Hungarian physicist (introduced idea of molecular surface tension), born in Buda, Hungary (d. 1919)
- Jul 31 Jean Robert Planquette, French composer (Bells of Corneville), born in Paris (d. 1903)
- Aug 1 František Kmoch, Czech composer and conductor, born in Zásmuky, Austrian Empire (d. 1912)
- Aug 4 Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Russian general (d. 1926)
- Aug 10 William Harnett, Irish-American painter (Old Violin), born in Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland (d. 1892)
- Aug 12 Macellus Emants, Dutch writer and poet (Along the Nile), born in Voorburg, Netherlands (d. 1923)
- Aug 19 Gustave Caillebotte, French painter (Rue de Paris) and member of Impressionists, born in Paris (d. 1894)
- Aug 22 Melville E. Stone, American newspaper publisher (Founder of Chicago Daily News), born in Hudson, Illinois (d. 1929)
- Aug 30 Andrew Onderdonk, American railway contractor (Canadian Pacific Railway), born in NYC, New York (d. 1905)
- Sep 1 Auguste-Henri Forel, Swiss entomologist (d. 1931)
- Sep 4 Jennie Lee, American actress (The Birth of a Nation), born in Sacramento, California (d. 1925)
- Sep 4 Lewis Howard Latimer, American inventor (carbon filament lightbulbs), born in Chelsea, Massachusetts (d. 1928)
- Sep 5 Manuel Giro, Spanish composer, born in Lérida, Catalonia, Spain (d. 1916)
- Sep 24 Pieter Louis Tak, literary figure (The Chronicle) (d. 1907)
- Sep 29 Caroline Yale, American educator who revolutionized the teaching of hearing-impaired students, born in Charlotte, Vermont (d. 1943)
- Oct 3 Henry Lerolle, French painter, born in Paris (d. 1929)
- Oct 5 Guido von List, Austrian-German occultist and novelist (Jung Diethers Heimkehr), born in Vienna (d. 1919)
- Oct 17 William "Candy" Cummings, American Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher (credited with creating the curveball), born in Ware, Massachusetts (d. 1924)
- Oct 30 Zinovy Rozhestvensky, Russian vice-admiral (d. 1909)
- Oct 31 Boston Custer, brother of George Armstrong Custer, born in New Rumley, Ohio (d. 1876)
- Nov 6 Richard Jefferies, English naturalist and essayist, born in Coate, Swindon, England (d. 1887)
- Nov 8 Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and logician (Begriffsschrift), born in Wismar, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, German Confederation (d. 1925)
- Nov 12 Eduard Müller, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1919)
- Nov 13 Albert I, Prince of Monaco (1889-1922), born in Paris (d. 1922)
- Nov 24 Lilli Lehmann, German opera singer (Tristan und Isolde), born in Würzburg, Bavaria (d. 1929)
- Dec 5 Edwin Blashfield, American painter who decorated the dome of Library of Congress, born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1936)
- Dec 9 Joel Chandler Harris, American writer (created Uncle Remus stories), born in Eatonton, Georgia (d. 1908)
- Dec 12 William Kissam Vanderbilt, American businessman, born in New Dorp, Staten Island, New York (d. 1920)
- Dec 17 Frederick Grant Gleason, American composer, born in Middletown, Connecticut (d. 1903)
- Dec 18 Karl Schröder II, German composer, born in Quedlinburg (d. 1935)
- Dec 21 Edward Everett Rice, American pioneer producer and composer of musical theater, born in Brighton, Massachusetts (d. 1924)
- Dec 30 Mary Frances Allitsen, British composer, born in London, England (d. 1912)