- Feb 2 Carel Victor Gerritsen, Dutch politician and free thinker (husband of suffragette Aletta Jacobs), born in Amersfoort, Netherlands (d. 1905)
- Feb 12 Amaat Vyncke, Belgian missionary to the Upper Congo (Flemish Flag), born in Zedelgem, Belgium (d. 1888)
- Feb 16 Octave Mirbeau, French writer (Journal of a Lady's Maid), born in Trévières,, France (d. 1917)
- Feb 17 Anton Urspruch, German composer, born in Frankfurt (d. 1907)
- Feb 17 Ludwig Bonvin, Swiss born composer who worked in America, born in Sierre, Switzerland (d. 1939)
- Feb 18 George Henschel, German-British baritone, pianist, conductor, and composer, born in Breslau, Silesia, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1934)
- Feb 20 Nérée Beauchemin, Canadian physician and poet (d. 1931)
- Feb 22 Isaac Rice, German-American businessman (namesake of Columbia Univ's Rice stadium, Electric Boat Company), born in Wachenheim, Bavaria (d. 1915)
- Feb 23 César Ritz, Swiss hotelier (d. 1918)
- Feb 27 Henry Edwards Huntington, American railroad executive (owned Pacific Electric Railway), born in Oneonta, New York (d. 1927)
- Feb 28 Hermann Schell, German theologist and philosopher (Gott und Geist) (d. 1906)