- Jan 3 Bennelong, Australian aboriginal interlocutor between his tribe and the British settlers (b. c. 1764)
- Jan 6 Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers, French general, dies at 48
- Jan 20 Christoph Martin Wieland, German poet and writer (Oberon), dies at 79
- Jan 23 George Clymer, American merchant (signed US Declaration of Independence), dies at 73
- Jan 28 Ján Josef Rösler, Czech composer, dies at 41