- Jan 1 Frank Knox, American politician (Republican VP candidate 1936), newspaper editor and Secretary of the Navy during World War II, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1944)
- Jan 1 Gustave Whitehead, German inventor (d. 1927)
- Jan 1 Hugo Leichtentritt, German Jewish composer and musicologist, born in Pleschen, Poland (d. 1951)
- Jan 4 Josef Suk, Czech violinist (Bohemian String Quartet, 1891-1933), composer (Asrael Symphony; Ripening; Serenade for Strings), and educator, born in Křečovice, Bohema (d. 1935)
- Jan 4 Svend Fleuron, Danish writer, born on Good Katrinedal (d. 1966)
Joseph Erlanger (1874-1965)
Jan 5 American physiologist (shock therapy-Nobel 1944), born in San Francisco, California
- Jan 6 Fred Niblo, American film actor, director, and producer (Ben-Hur, The Mark of Zorro), born in York, Nebraska (d. 1948)
- Jan 13 Jozef-Ernest van Roey, Belgian cardinal (opposed Nazism as archbishop of Mechlin), born in Vorselaar (d. 1961)
- Jan 14 Thornton W. Burgess, American conservationist & author (The Bedtime Story-Books; Now I Remember: Autobiography of an Amateur Naturalist), born in Sandwich, Massachusetts (d. 1965)
- Jan 16 Robert W. Service, English-Canadian poet (Cremation of Sam McGee), born in Lancashire, England (d. 1958)
- Jan 22 Edward Harkness, American philanthropist (d. 1940)
- Jan 22 Wincenty Witoz, Polish politician (Prime Minister of Poland 1920-21, 1923, 1926), born in Wierczhoslawice, Austria-Hungary (d. 1945)
- Jan 24 Arthur Schomburg (Arturo Alfonso), Puerto Rican archivist of African American history and culture, born in Santurce, Puerto Rico (d. 1938)
- Jan 25 Hewlett Johnson [Red Dean of Canterbury], English bishop, born in Salford, Greater Manchester (d. 1966)
- Jan 25 W. Somerset Maugham, British novelist & poet (Of Human Bondage), born in Paris, France (d. 1965)
- Jan 28 Alex Smith, Scottish-American golfer (US Open 1906, 10), born in Carnoustie, Scotland (d. 1930)
- Jan 28 Ernst Rabel, Austrian-American lawyer, human rights activist, and author (The Conflict of Laws: A Comparative Study), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1955)
John D. Rockefeller Jr (1874-1960)
Jan 29 American financier and philanthropist, born in Cleveland, Ohio
- Jan 29 Robert Lach, Austrian composer, born in Vienna (d. 1958)