- Apr 4 Tad Lincoln, youngest son of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln, born in Springfield, Illinois (d. 1871)
- Apr 5 Alfonso Rendano, Italian composer, born in Consenza, Italy (d. 1931)
- Apr 21 Charles Malherbe, French violinist and composer, born in Paris (d. 1911)
- Apr 22 Alphonse Bertillon, French police officer and anthropologist (devised crime ID system), born in Paris (d. 1914)
- Apr 23 Winthrop M. Crane, American politician, 40th Governor of Massachusetts, born in Dalton, Massachusetts (d. 1920)
- Apr 27 Jules Lemaître, French critic and dramatist, born in Vennecy, Loiret, France (d. 1914)
- Apr 30 Alfred Berger, Austrian playwright, born in Vienna (d. 1912)