- Jan 1 Francesco Guardi, Italian painter, dies at 80
- Jan 4 Bengt Lidner, Swedish poet (Medea/Yttersa domen), dies at 35
- Feb 1 William Wildman Shute Barrington, British statesman, dies at 76
- Feb 2 William Aiton, English botanist (Kew Gardens), dies at 61
- Feb 6 Carlo Goldoni, Italian playwright and librettist (Belisario, Servant of Two Masters), dies at 85
- Mar 2 Carl Gustaf Pilo, Swedish-born artist
- Mar 4 Isaac Ouwater, Amsterdam painter/cartoonist, dies at 44
- Mar 20 William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, Scottish judge and politician (b. 1705)
- Mar 21 Johann Michael Schmidt, composer, dies at 51
- Mar 26 John Mudge, English physician (b. 1721)
- Apr 9 Ernestus Weinrauch, composer, dies at 62
- Apr 13 Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, French revolutionary, dies at 30
- Apr 15 Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian Jesuit missionary & geographer, dies at 74
- Apr 21 John Michell, English seismologist (b. 1724)
- Apr 29 Yechezkel Landau, Polish rabbi and Talmudist, dies at 79
- Apr 29 John Michell, English scientist and polymath, first to propose existence of black holes (b. 1724)
- Apr 30 Lorenzo Fago, Italian composer and teacher, dies at 88
- May 7 Johan A Zoutman, Dutch lt admiral (battle of Doggersbank), dies at 68
- May 7 Pietro Nardini, Italian composer, dies at 71
- May 13 Martin Gerbert, German composer, music historian and abbot, dies at 72
- May 20 Charles Bonnet, Swiss naturalist and writer, dies at 73
- Jun 4 Jan Ekels de Young, Dutch painter, dies at 34
- Jun 16 Louis A count d'Affry, general/French ambassador in Netherland, dies
- Jun 26 Gilbert White, English naturalist (Natural History and Antiquities of Selborn), dies at 72
Jean-Paul Marat
Jul 13 Jean-Paul Marat, French journalist and revolutionary (Friend of the People periodical), is murdered by Charlotte Corday in a bath at 50

Jean-Paul Marat
Roger Sherman
Jul 23 Roger Sherman, American lawyer and Founding Father of the United States (Declaration of Independence), dies of typhoid fever at 72

Roger Sherman
John Hancock
Oct 8 John Hancock, American merchant and statesman who was 1st to sign the Declaration of Independence, dies at 56

John Hancock
- Oct 9 Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, French missionary (b. 1718)
Marie Antoinette
Oct 16 Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (1774-92) who allegedly uttered the phrase "let them eat cake", beheaded at 37

Marie Antoinette
Olympe de Gouges
Nov 3 Olympe de Gouges [Marie Gouze], French playwright and revolutionary (Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen), executed by guillotine at 45

Olympe de Gouges
- Nov 6 Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, dies at 46
- Nov 8 Madame Roland [Marie-Jeanne Phlippon], French revolutionary (member of the Girondist faction), executed by guillotine at 39
- Nov 12 Jean-Sylvain Bailly, French astronomer noted for his computation of an orbit for Halley’s Comet (1759) and author of History of Ancient Astronomy from Its Origin to the Establishment of the School of Alexandria, guillotined during the Reign of Terror at 57
- Nov 24 Clément Charles François de Laverdy, French statesman (b. 1723)
- Dec 6 Marie Jeanne Becu, Comtesse du Barry, last mistress of Louis XV, beheaded at 50
- Dec 7 Joseph Bara, French revolutionary (b. 1780)
- Dec 9 Yolande de Polastron, Duchess de Polignac, French aristocrat, dies at 44
- Dec 13 Johann Joachim Christoph Bode, composer, dies at 63
- Dec 20 Joseph Legros, French singer and composer who was the most prominent haute-contres of his generation, dies at 54
- Dec 23 Johann Adolph Hasse, German composer (Antonio e Cleopatra), dies at 74
- Dec 23 Antoine François Prévost, French author and novelist (b. 1697)
- Dec 28 Louis earl of Bylandt, Dutch admiral, dies at about 75