- Jan 1 Johann Christian Bach (English Bach), German composer & 11th son of Johann Sebastian Bach, dies at 46
- Jan 4 Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French court architect (Palace de la Concorde), dies at 83
- Jan 28 Jean-Baptiste-Bourguignon d'Anville, French geographer and cartographer, dies at 84
- Feb 9 Joseph Aloysius Assemani, Syrian orientalist (b. 1710)
- Feb 10 Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German Lutheran theologian, dies at 79
- Mar 17 Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-Swiss mathematician, and physicist (10 time French Award), dies at 82
- Mar 19 Louis-Henry Paisible, French composer, dies at 33
- Apr 6 Rynoldus Popma van Oevering, composer, dies at 90
- Apr 7 Taksin, King of Siam (1767-82), dies at 47
- Apr 12 Metastasio, Italian poet and librettist (b. 1698)
Anne Bonny (1702-1782)
Apr 22 Irish Caribbean pirate and lover of Calico Jack [date of death is approximate], dies in prison at 85
- Apr 22 Josef Seger {Segert], Czech composer. organist, and educator, dies at 66
- Apr 27 William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, British politician, dies at 72
- May 8 Marquis of Pombal, Prime Minister of Portugal (1756-1777), dies at 82
- May 15 Richard Wilson, Welsh landscape painter, dies at 67
- May 16 Daniuel Charles Solander, botanist, dies
- May 20 Carlo Giovanni Testori, Italian composer, dies at 68
- May 20 Christoph Gottlieb Schröter, German organist (St Nikola Church, Nordhausen, 1732-82), composer, and inventor of the tangent piano, dies at 82
- May 20 William Emerson, British mathematician (b. 1701)
Charles Watson-Wentworth (1730-1782)
Jul 1 2nd Marquis of Rockingham, British Prime Minister (Whig: 1765-66, 1782), dies in an influenza epidemic at 52
- Jul 15 Farinelli [Carlo Broschi], Italian castrato (considered one of the great opera singers), dies at 77
- Jul 15 Robert Wainwright, English composer and church organist, dies at 33
- Jul 16 Louise Ulrike, Queen of Sweden and wife of Adolf Frederik, dies at 61
- Jul 21 Placidus Cajetan von Camerloher, German composer, dies at 63
John Laurens (1754-1782)
Aug 27 American soldier, diplomat and abolitionist, killed in battle at 27
- Aug 29 Richard Kempenfelt, Royal Navy Admiral drowns (b. 1718)
- Sep 6 Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, wife of Thomas Jefferson (b. 1748)
- Oct 2 Charles Lee, British and U.S. general (b. 1732)
- Oct 23 Joseph Riepel, Austrian-born German composer, dies at 73
- Nov 22 John Barueth, vicar/pamphleter, dies
- Nov 22 John de Mol, Dutch porcelain manufacturer, dies at 56
- Dec 27 Henry Home, Lord Kames, Scottish philosopher (b. 1697)