- Jan 8 John Baskerville, English printer/type designer, dies at 68
- Jan 10 Jemeljan Pugatshov, Russian kosak leader/"Tsar Peter III", dies
- Jan 11 Yemelyan Pugachov, Don Cossack rebel, executed by tsarist Russia
- Jan 11 Prithvi Narayan Shah, began the unification of modern Nepal (b. 1723)
- Jan 13 Johann Georg Walch, German theologian, dies at 81
- Jan 15 Giovanni Battista Sammartini, composer, dies