- Aug 1 George Coulthard, Australian rules footballer (Victoria; Carlton FC) and cricket all-rounder (1 Test; Victoria CA), born in Melbourne, Australia (d. 1883)
Alfred Deakin (1856-1919)
Aug 3 Second Prime Minister of Australia (3 terms between 1903-10), born in Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia
Edward L. Doheny (1856-1935)
Aug 10 American oil tycoon who drilled the 1st successful oil well in Los Angeles and set off the California oil boom, born in Fond du lac, Wisconsin
- Aug 10 Paul Geisler, composer
- Aug 10 William Willett, British inventor of Daylight Saving Time, born in Farnham, Surrey, England (d. 1915)
- Aug 12 "Diamond Jim" Brady, American financier (d. 1917)
- Aug 15 J. Keir Hardie, Scottish politician and 1st Labour representative in British Parliament, born in Lanarkshire, Scotland (d. 1915)
- Aug 17 Violet Paget [Vernon Lee], British author (Satan the master)
- Aug 18 Charles H. Gabriel, American Gospel composer, born in Wilton, Iowa (d. 1932)
- Aug 18 Jan Karol Gall, Polish conductor an composer of mostly vocal pieces (Mizerna, cicha), born in Warsaw (d. 1912)
- Aug 20 Jakub Bart-Ćišinski, Sorbian writer, born in Panschwitz-Kuckau, Germany (d. 1909)
- Aug 24 Felix Mottl, Austrian conductor and composer (Agnes Bernauer), born in Unter-St.-Veit, Austria (d. 1911)
- Aug 27 Iwan Franko, Ukrainian writer and political activist, born in Nahuievychi, Galicia (d. 1916)
- Aug 30 Carle David Tolmé Runge, German mathematician and physicist, born in Bremen, Germany (d. 1927)
- Aug 31 Nikoghayos Fadeyi Tigranyan, Armenian composer, born in Gyumri, Armenia (d. 1951)