- Jan 1 Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, French zoologist, dies at 83
- Jan 6 William Jones, English composer, dies at 73
- Jan 9 Jean Étienne Championnet, French general (b. 1762)
- Jan 10 Johan Wikmanson, composer, dies at 46
- Jan 23 Edward Rutledge, US attorney (signed US Declaration of Independence), dies at 50
- Feb 23 Joseph Warton, English literary critic (b. 1722)
- Mar 2 Christian Friedrich Schale, composer, dies at 86
- Mar 3 Johann Baptist Christoph Toeschi, German composer, dies at 64
- Mar 9 Dominique Della-Maria, French composer, dies at 30
- Mar 29 Marc René, Marquis de Montalembert, French military engineer and writer, dies at 85
- Apr 18 Pieter Fouquet, Dutch art merchant (Atlas of Fouquet), dies at 71
- Apr 25 William Cowper, English pre-romantic poet (Olney Hymns), dies at 68
- Apr 30 John H Midderigh, Rotterdam patriot, dies at 46
- May 7 Laurens Pieter van de Spiegel, Dutch Grand Pensionary of Zeeland and Holland (1787-95), dies at 64
- May 7 Niccolo Piccinni, Italian composer (Roland), dies at 72
- May 18 Alexander Suvorov, Russian general, dies at 70
- May 19 French Bosbeeck, veterinarian/robber, hanged
- Jun 7 Willem Arnold Alting, Dutch governor-general of Dutch East Indies (1780-97), dies at 75
- Jun 10 Johann Abraham Peter Schulz, German composer, dies at 53
- Jun 14 Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, French military leader (b. 1768)
- Jun 14 Jean-Baptiste Kléber, French general, dies at 47
- Jun 20 Abraham Gotthelf Kästner, German mathematician, dies at 80
- Jul 23 John Rutledge, American 2nd Chief Justice of the United States, dies at 60
- Aug 3 Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, German composer, dies at 63
- Sep 2 Prince Maciej Radziwiłł, Polish-Lithuanian noble, composer and librettist, dies at 50
- Sep 26 William Billings, American hymn composer (Rose of Sharon), dies at 53
- Sep 29 Michael Denis, Austrian poet, bibliographer and lepidopterist, dies at 71
- Oct 7 Gabriel, slave revolt leader (Virginia), hanged
- Oct 28 Artemas Ward, American politician and soldier (major general during the American Revolutionary War), dies at 72
- Dec 19 Georg Peter Weimar, German cantor and composer, dies at 66
- Dec 27 Hugh Blair, Scottish preacher and man of letters (b. 1718)