- May 3 Ferdinando Paer, composer, dies at 67
- May 13 Israel Ashkenazi of Shklov, founded Ashkenazic community (1815), dies
- May 13 Joseph Fesch, French cardinal, diplomat and senator (Uncle of Napoleon), dies at 76
- May 17 Archibald Alison, Scottish author (b. 1757)
- May 18 Carolina Bonaparte, Queen of Naples, dies at 57