- Jan 3 Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (b. 1706)
- Jan 6 Haym Salomon, dies in Philadelphia at 44, helped finance the revolution
- Jan 19 Jonathan Toup, English classical scholar and critic (b. 1713)
- Jan 23 Matthew Stewart, Scottish mathematician (b. 1717)
- Feb 6 Iman Willem Falck, Dutch governor of Ceylon (1765-83), dies at 48
- Feb 19 Johann Christoph Richter, composer, dies at 84
- Feb 24 Carlo Buonaparte, Corsican attorney and father of emperor Napoleon, dies at 39
- Apr 14 William Whitehead, English writer and poet, British Poet Laureate (1757-85), dies at about 70
- Apr 26 Karl Siegmund von Seckendorff, composer, dies at 40
- Apr 30 Frederick Philipse III, American land owner (Bronx, Westch & Putnam), dies at 65
- May 8 Pietro Longhi, painter, dies
- May 8 Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French statesman (b. 1719)
- May 9 Franz Xaver Schnitzer, composer, dies at 44
- May 10 Etienne Joseph Floquet, composer, dies at 36
- May 15 Karel Blazej Kopriva, Czech organist and composer, dies at 29
- May 23 William Woollett, engraver, dies
- Jun 2 Jean Paul de Gua de Malves, French mathematician (b. 1713)
- Jun 5 Gottfried August Homilius, composer, dies at 71
- Jun 6 Johann Michael Demmler, composer, dies at 36
- Jun 25 Pierre Talon, French composer and cellist, dies at 63
- Jun 25 Pieter Kintsius, VOC-supercarga/chief on Macau, dies at 53
- Jun 27 Egbert de Free Temminck, Amsterdam regent, dies at 84
- Jun 30 James Oglethorpe, English general and founder of the state of Georgia (b. 1696)
- Jul 13 Stephen Hopkins, American politician and signed Declaration of Independence, dies at 78
- Aug 14 John William Fletcher, evangelist, dies
- Aug 17 Jonathan Trumbull, American politician and statesman, dies at 74
- Aug 21 Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor (Child with Cage, Mercury Fastening his Sandals), dies at 71
- Aug 26 George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, British soldier and politician (b. 1716)
- Oct 4 David Brearly, American statesman (b. 1703)
- Oct 24 Jean-Jacques Robson, composer, dies at 64
- Oct 30 Gustaf P Creutz, Swedish diplomat/poet (Daphne), dies at 54
- Nov 18 Louis Philip I, Duke of Orléans, French soldier and writer (b. 1725)
- Nov 19 Bernard de Bury, composer, dies at 65
- Nov 25 Richard Glover, British poet, dies at about 73
- Nov 28 William Whipple, merchant/judge/signer (US Declaration of Independence), dies at 55
- Dec 8 Antonio Maria Mazzoni, composer, dies at 68
- Dec 29 Johann Heinrich Rolle, composer, dies at 69
- Dec 29 Johan Herman Wessel, Norwegian poet (b. 1742)