- 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 C M Wieland, writer, dies at 79
- Jan 23 George Clymer, US merchant (signed Declaration of Independence), dies at 73
- Jan 28 Jan Joseph Rosler, composer, dies at 41