James Cook
Feb 14 James Cook, British explorer, navigator and cartographer, discovered and explored Australia, Pacific Islands and New Zealand for Britain, killed in a fight with Hawaiians near Kealakekua at 50
James Cook
- Feb 20 Johannes Burman, Dutch botanist, plant author and physician, dies at 71
- Feb 24 Paul Daniel Longolius, German encylopedist (editor of Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon), dies at 74
- Feb 27 Jan Nepveu, Dutch governor of Suriname (1769-79), dies at 59
- Apr 6 Tommaso MFS Traetta, Italian opera composer (Farnace), dies at 52
- Apr 24 Eleazar Wheelock, American founder of Dartmouth College, dies at 68
- May 3 John Winthrop, American astronomer (b. 1714)
- May 11 John Heart, US farmer (signed US Declaration of Independence), dies at about 68
- Jun 7 William Warburton, English critic and Bishop of Gloucester (b. 1698)
- Jun 16 Sir Francis Bernard, Governor of New Jersey and Massachusetts (b. 1712)
- Jun 23 Ras Mikael Sehul, warlord of Ethiopia (b. about 1691)
- Jun 29 Anton Raphael Mengs, German Bohemian painter and one of the precursors to Neoclassical painting, dies at 51
- Jul 14 George Ross, American judge/signer (Declaration of Independence), dies at 49
- Aug 3 Henry Kobell, Dutch painter and cartoonist, dies at 27
- Aug 24 Saint Cosmas of Aetolia, Greek Orthodox martyr (b. 1714)
- Sep 2 Onno Zwier van Hairs, Fries poet (Agon), dies at 66
- Sep 12 Richard Grenville-Temple, 2nd Earl Temple, English politician, dies at 67
Casimir Pulaski
Oct 11 Casimir Pulaski, Polish military leader (called the father of American cavalry), dies of battle wounds at 34 (alternative date 15 March)
Casimir Pulaski
- Oct 28 Raphael Weiss, German composer and priest, dies at 66
- Nov 10 Joseph Hewes, American merchant/signer (Declaration of Independence), dies at 49
- Nov 13 Thomas Chippendale, English furniture maker, dies at 61
- Nov 16 Pehr Kalm, Finnish explorer and naturalist (b. 1716)
- Dec 6 Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, French painter, dies at 80
- Dec 8 Nathan Alcock, English physician (b. 1707)
- Dec 15 Manuel Jeronimo Romero de Avila, Spanish theorist and composer, dies at 62
- Dec 18 Jan Punt, Dutch engraver, painter, illustrator and actor (Gideonschool), dies at 68
- Dec 23 Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, British admiral and politician (b. 1724)
- Dec 28 Gennaro Manna, Italian composer, dies at 64