- Jan 6 Hartley Coleridge, English poet, dies at 52
- Jan 9 Jan Kops, Dutch agriculturist/vicar, dies at 83
- Jan 16 Wilhelm M L de Wette, German theologist, dies at 69
- Jan 25 Elias Parish Alvars, British harpist and composer ("Voyage d'un Harpiste en Orient"), dies of pneumonia at 40
- Jan 26 Thomas Lovell Beddoes, English poet (Death's Jest-Book), committed suicide at 45