- Jan 9 Pedro Pablo Abarca d Bolea, Spanish officer, and ount earl of Aranda, dies at 79
- Jan 20 Christian Cannabich, German violinist, composer and royal chaplain master, dies at 66
- Jan 22 Lewis Morris, American landowner and farmer (signed US Declaration of Independence), dies at 71
- Jan 22 Matija A Reljkovic, Croatian writer (Satire of Wild Man), dies at 66
- Jan 26 Christian Gottlob Neefe, German composer, conductor and tutor of Ludwig van Beethoven, dies at 49 [some sources give date as 28th]
- Feb 6 Niels Schiørring, Danish musician and composer, dies at 54
- Feb 12 Stanislaw II August Poniatowski, last King of Poland (1764-95), dies of a stroke at 66
- Feb 13 Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder, German writer (Fantasies of Art), dies at 24
- Feb 25 Louis-Jules Mancini-Mazarini, Duc de Nivernais, French diplomat and writer (b. 1716)
- Mar 22 Justin Morgan, American composer and horse breeder, dies at 51
- Apr 11 Karl Wilhelm Ramler, German poet (Geistliche Kantaten), dies at 74
- Apr 29 Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus, Austrian entomologist, dies at 74
- May 10 George Vancouver, British explorer, (Voyage of Discovery), dies at 40
- May 19 William Byron, 5th Baron Byron, English nobleman and politician, dies at 75
Giacomo Casanova (1725-1798)
Jun 4 Italian writer, adventurer and famous lover, dies at 73
- Jun 25 Thomas Sandby, English architect (Royal Academy's 1st professor of Architecture), dies at about 77
- Jun 26 Eugene Godecharle, composer, dies at 56
- Jun 28 Pierre Dutillieu, composer, dies at 44
- Jun 29 Kaat Mussel [Catharina Mulder], Dutch political protester in Rotterdam (orangism), dies at 75
- Jul 2 John Fitch, American inventor and clockmaker (1st US steamboat service), dies of an opium overdose at 55
- Jul 15 Gaetano Pugnani, Italian violinist and composer, dies at 66
- Jul 21 François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt, Austrian field marshal, dies at 64
- Aug 1 François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers, French admiral (killed in battle) (b. 1753)
- Aug 7 Johann Gottlieb Sollner, composer, dies at 65
- Aug 15 Felice Alessandri, Italian organist, harpsichordist, pianist, and opera composer, dies at 50
- Aug 21 Corneille-François de Nélis, Flemish scholar and bishop of Antwerp, dies at 62
- Aug 24 Thomas Alcock, English clergyman (b. 1709)
- Aug 28 James Wilson, One of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a signatory of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, dies at 55
- Sep 16 Damasus Brosmann, Moravian composer, dies at 67
- Sep 21 George Read, American judge and signer (Declaration of Independence), dies at 65
- Oct 21 Johann Christoph Schmugel, German organist and composer, dies at 71
Wolfe Tone (1763-1798)
Nov 19 Irish republican and revolutionary figure (United Irishmen), dies at 35 in unclear circumstances on the day he was to be hanged
- Nov 30 Friedrich Fleischmann, German composer, dies at 32
- Dec 4 Luigi Galvani, Italian anatomist and physicist ("animal electricity", gave the term "galvanize"), dies at 61
- Dec 9 Johann Reinhold Forster, German botanist (naturalist on James Cook's second Pacific voyage), dies at 69
- Dec 16 Thomas Pennant, Welsh naturalist, dies at 72
- Dec 19 Charles-Joseph Panckoucke, French publisher (Moniteur Universel), dies at 62
- Dec 20 Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, Dutch engraver and art collector, dies at 72