- Jan 1 James George Frazer, Scottish anthropologist and folklorist (The Golden Bough), born in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 1941)
Alice Mary Robertson (1854-1931)
Jan 2 American educator, social worker and 2nd woman in US Congress, born in Tullahassee Mission, Indian Territory
- Jan 6 Sherlock Holmes, British fictional detective (as created by Arthur Conan Doyle)
- Jan 9 Jennie Jerome, American society beauty and mother of Winston Churchill (d. 1921)
- Jan 10 Heinrich Köselitz [Peter Gast], German composer, born in Annaberg-Buchholz, Germany (d. 1918)
- Jan 18 Thomas A. Watson, American inventor, assistant to Alexander Graham Bell in inventing the telephone, born in Salem, Massachusetts (d. 1934)
- Jan 22 Luke Short, American Old West gunslinger and saloon owner, born in Polk County, Arkansas (d. 1893)
- Feb 9 Aletta Jacobs, 1st Dutch female physician and women's suffrage activist, born in Sappemeer, Netherlands (d. 1929)
- Feb 9 Edward Carson, Irish Unionist politician and lawyer (Irish Unionist Party), born in Dublin, United Kingdom (d. 1935)
- Feb 16 Oscar Fetrás [Otto Faster], German composer (Mondnacht auf der Alster), born in Hamburg, German Confederation (d. 1931)
- Feb 17 Friedrich Alfred Krupp, German steel and arms manufacturer (Krupp AG. - supplied the German Navy), born in Essen, Province of Westphalia (d. 1902)
- Feb 20 Louis van Westerhoven, Dutch actor, singer and opera director (Youth), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1912)
- Feb 24 Franz Courtens, Belgian landscape painter (Golden Rain) (d. 1943)
- Feb 25 Charles Lang Freer, American industrialist and art collector; endowed Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art, born in Kingston New York (d. 1919)
- Feb 28 Juliusz Zarębski, Polish pianist, composer, and pedagogue, born in Zhytomyr, Kingdom of Poland, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) (d. 1885)
- Mar 4 Sir Napier Shaw, British meteorologist (d. 1945)
- Mar 8 Tom Horan, Australian cricket all-rounder (15 Tests, 1 x 100, 11 wickets; Victoria CA), born in Midleton, Ireland (d. 1916)
- Mar 14 Alexandru Macedonski, Romanian writer, born in Bucharest (d. 1920)
- Mar 14 John Lane, British publisher (The Bodley Head), born in Devon (d. 1925)
- Mar 14 Paul Ehrlich, German bacteriologist and physician (Chemotherapy, Nobel Prize 1908), Strehlen, Lower Silesia, German Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1915)
- Mar 14 Thomas Riley Marshall, 28th Vice President of U.S. (1913-21), born in North Manchester, Indiana (d. 1925)
- Mar 15 Emil Adolf von Behring, German physician; Nobel laureate (d. 1917)
- Mar 21 Alick Bannerman, Australian cricket batsman (28 Tests, 8 x 50s; NSW 1876–94), born in Sydney, Australia (d. 1924)
- Mar 23 Alfred Milner, British governor (Cape Colony) and colonial administrator, born in Giessen, Grand Duchy of Hesse (d. 1925)
- Mar 26 Braulio Dueno Colon, Puerto Rican composer, born in San Juan, Puerto Rico (d. 1934)
- Mar 30 Stanley Robison, American civil engineer, streetcar magnate, and baseball team owner (Cleveland Spiders, 1887-99; St. Louis Cardinals, 1899-1911), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1911)
- Mar 31 Dugald Clerk, Scottish engineer and inventor (1st 2-stroke motorcycle engine), born in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 1932)
- Apr 1 Bill Traylor, American artist (d. 1949)
- Apr 5 Vicente Goicoechea Errasti, Basque composer, born in Ibarra, Álava (d. 1916)
- Apr 9 Seaborn McDaniel Denson, American composer, born in Cleburne County, Alabama (d. 1936)
- Apr 11 Hugh Massie, Australian cricket batsman and captain (9 Tests; NSW), born in Port Fairy, Australia (d. 1938)
- Apr 13 Richard T. Ely, American economist and author (Hard Times), born in Ripley, New York (d. 1943)
- Apr 21 Eusapia Palladino, Italian spiritual medium, born in Minervino Murge, Apulia (d. 1918)
- Apr 21 William Stang, German Roman Catholic Bishop, born in Bad Schönborn, Germany (d. 1907)
- Apr 21 Władysław Rzepko, Polish composer, born in Piórków, Poland (d. 1932)
- Apr 22 Henri La Fontaine, Belgian international lawyer (1st Socialist to win Nobel Peace Prize 1913), born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1943)
- Apr 29 Henri Poincaré, French mathematician (Poincaré conjecture), born in Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France (d. 1912)
- May 5 Antonio Smareglia, Italian composer, born in Pola, Austrian Empire (now Pula, Croatia) (d. 1929)
- May 11 Jack Blackham, Australian cricket wicketkeeper (35 Tests, 4 x 50s, 61 dismissals; Victoria CA), born in Melbourne, Australia (d. 1932)
- May 11 Ottmar Mergenthaler, German-American inventor who invented the linotype machine that revolutionized printing, born in Hachtel, Kingdom of Württemberg (d. 1899)
- May 13 Louis H. Chrispijn, Dutch actor and director (Krates, Lost & Found, Silvia Silombra), born in Amsterdam, Netherland (d. 1926)
- May 13 Paul Klengel, German pianist, violinist, composer and educator, born in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony (now Germany) (d. 1935)
- May 18 Bernard Zweers, Dutch composer (Gisbertus of Aemstel; To My Fatherland), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1924)
- May 24 John Riley Banister, American law officer and cowboy, born in Banister Hollow, Camden County, Missouri (d. 1918)
- May 24 Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, admiral (WWI), born in Graz, Austrian Empire (d. 1921)
- May 27 Georges Eekhoud, Belgian writer (Jeune Belgium), born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 1927)
- Jun 8 Douglas Colin Cameron, Canadian politician, born in Hawkesbury, Ontario (d. 1921)
- Jun 9 Gerard Bolland, Dutch philosopher (Bolland Society), born in Groningen, Netherlands (d. 1922)
- Jun 13 Charles Algernon Parsons, British inventor (steam turbine), born in London (d. 1931)
- Jun 14 Frederik Rung, Danish composer, born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1914)
- Jun 18 Edward Wyllis Scripps, American publisher who organized 1st US major chain of newspapers (The E. W. Scripps Company) born in Rushville, Illinois (d. 1926)
- Jun 19 Alfredo Catalani, Italian operatic composer, born in Lucca, Italy (d. 1893)
Robert Borden (1854-1937)
Jun 26 Canadian politician and 8th Prime Minister of Canada (Conservative: 1911-20), born in Grand-Pre, Nova Scotia
Leoš Janáček (1854-1928)
Jul 3 Czech composer, born in Hukvaldy, Moravia, Austrian Empire
George Eastman (1854-1932)
Jul 12 American inventor (Kodak camera) and founder of the Eastman Kodak Company, born in Waterville, New York
- Jul 14 Alexander Alexandrovich Kopylov, Russian imperial composer and violinist (d. 1911)
- Jul 19 Daniel Josephus Jitta, Dutch High Court lawyer, born in Amsterdam (d. 1925)
- Jul 29 Georg Kerschensteiner, German educational theorist (Theorie der Bildungsorganisation), born in Munich (d. 1932)
- Jul 31 Jose Canalejas, premier of Spain (1910-12), born in El Ferrol, Spain (d. 1912)
- Aug 2 F. Marion Crawford, American author (Mr. Isaacs), born in Bagni de Lucca, Italy (d. 1909)
- Aug 3 Fernand de La Tombelle, French organist and composer, born in Paris (d. 1928)
- Aug 10 John Scott Lidgett, English theologist, born in London, England (d. 1953)
- Aug 12 Alfred Gilbert, English sculptor and goldsmith (Eros statue in Piccadilly), born in London, England (d. 1934)
- Aug 22 Milan I, King of Serbia (1882-89) who unexpectedly abdicated in favor of his 12 year old son Alexander I, born in Mărășești, Romania (d. 1901)
- Aug 23 Moritz Moszkowski, Polish-German composer, born in Breslau, Prussia (d. 1925)
- Aug 24 Nikolay Vladimirovich Scherbachov, Russian pianist and composer, born in St. Petersburg; (d. 1922)
- Aug 26 Arnold Fothergill, English cricket fast bowler (2 Tests, 8 wickets. BB 4/19; Somerset CCC, MCC), born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England (d. 1932)
- Sep 1 Engelbert Humperdinck, German opera composer (Hänsel und Gretel), born in Siegburg, Westphalia (d. 1921)
- Sep 2 Hans Jæger, Norwegian writer and political activist (d. 1910)
- Sep 8 Willem Marinus van Rossum, Dutch cardinal and prefect of Propaganda File, born in Zwolle, Overijssel, Netherlands (d. 1932)
- Sep 10 Anton Dreesmann, German-Dutch manufacturer (Vroom & Dreesman), born in Haselünne, Germany (d. 1934)
- Sep 17 David Dunbar Buick, Scottish-American automobile pioneer (Buick Motor Company), born in Arbroath, Angus, Scotland (d. 1929)
- Sep 17 Hans Müller, German music historian and writer, born in Cologne, Germany (d. 1897)
- Sep 23 Cornelis Lely, Dutch civil engineer (Zuiderzee dam and dyke works), Governor of Suriname (1902-05), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1929)
- Sep 28 Adam Sedgwick, English zoologist (Peripatus), born in Norwich, England (d. 1913)
- Sep 29 Martin Pluddemann, German composer, born in Kolberg (d. 1897)
- Oct 2 Patrick Geddes, Scottish biologist and town planner who coined the term conurbation, born in Ballater, Aberdeenshire, Scotland (d. 1932)
- Oct 3 William Crawford Gorgas, American physician and 22nd Surgeon-General of the U.S. Army (help cure yellow fever), born in Toulminville, Alabama (d. 1920)
- Oct 7 Christiaan R de Wet, South African rebel leader, politician and general in the Boer War, born in Smithfield, Orange Free State (d. 1922)
- Oct 10 Gerónimo Giménez, Spanish composer, born in Seville, Spain (d. 1923)
- Oct 16 Karl Kautsky, Austrian philosopher and Marxist theorist (Socialist journal Neue Zeit), born in Prague, Austria-Hungary (d. 1938)
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
Oct 16 Irish playwright and novelist (Importance of Being Earnest, The Picture of Dorian Gray), born in Dublin, Ireland
- Oct 18 Billy Murdoch, Australian cricket batsman (18 Tests Australia, 1 England; 2 x 100s; NSW, Sussex CCC, London CCC), born in Bendigo, Australia (d. 1911)
- Oct 18 Charles Scribner II, American magazine and book publisher, born in New York City (d. 1930)
- Oct 18 Salomon August Andrée, Swedish engineer, balloonist and polar explorer, born in Gränna, Sweden (d. 1897)
- Oct 20 Alphonse Allais, French humorist and author (Pass the Bile), born in Honfluer, France (d. 1905)
Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891)
Oct 20 French poet and adventurer (The Drunken Boat, Illuminations), born in Charleville, France
- Oct 24 Hendrik Willem Bakhuis Roozeboom, Dutch chemist (Heterogenen Gleichgewichte), born in Alkmaar, Netherlands (d. 1907)
- Oct 26 August Kiehl, Dutch actor (Op hoop van zegen, De kribbebijter), born in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands (d. 1938)
- Oct 26 C. W. Post, American manufacturer of breakfast cereals, born in Springfield, Illinois (d. 1914)
- Oct 27 Sir William Alexander Smith, Scottish founder of the Boys' Brigade, born in Pennyland House, Thurso, Scotland (d. 1914)
- Oct 31 Adolf Erman, German Egyptologist (Grammar of Ancient Egypt), born in Berlin (d. 1937)
- Nov 3 Jokichi Takamine, Japanese-American biochemist who isolated adrenaline (epinephrine), which causes the body to respond to emergencies, the first pure hormone isolated from natural sources, born in Takaoka, Toyama, Japan (d. 1922)
- Nov 5 Alphonse Desjardins, founder of the Caisses populaires Desjardins, born in Lévis, Quebec (d. 1920)
- Nov 5 Paul Sabatier, French chemist (Nobel 1912 - improving the hydrogenation of organic species in the presence of metals), born in Carcassonne, France (d. 1941)
John Philip Sousa (1854-1932)
Nov 6 American composer and march king (Stars & Stripes Forever), born in Washington, D.C.
- Nov 8 Johannes Rydberg, Swedish physicist (Rydberg formula), born in Halmstad, Sweden (d. 1919)
- Nov 9 Joseph Miroslav Weber, Czech composer, born in Prague (d. 1906)
- Nov 13 George Whitfield Chadwick, American composer (Judi Van Winke), born in Lowell, Massachusetts (d. 1931)
- Nov 16 Jules van den Heuvel, Belgian lawyer and politician, born in Ghent, Belgium (d. 1926)
- Nov 17 Louis Lyautey, French general and colonial administrator (Indochina, Morocco) Minister of Defense (1916-17), born in Nancy, France (d. 1934)
Benedict XV (1854-1922)
Nov 21 Italian 258th Pope (1914-22), born in Pegli, Genoa, Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia
- Nov 27 Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal, Austrian diplomat (Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary 1906-12), born in Groß Skal, Bohemia, Austrian Empire (d. 1912)
- Nov 28 Gottlieb Haberlandt, Austrian botanist, born in Mosonmagyaróvár (d. 1945)
- Dec 3 William Milton, British cricket all-rounder (3 Tests South Africa, 2 wickets) and rugby union centre (2 Tests England), born in Little Marlow, England (d. 1930)
- Dec 9 P. J. Hannikainen, Finnish composer, born in Nurmes, Finland (d. 1924)
- Dec 23 Henry B. Guppy, British botanist who studied in the Pacific, born in Falmouth, England (d. 1926)