- Jan 10 Karl Freiherr von Müffling, Prussian field marshal, dies at 75
- Jan 12 Johan Herman Koekkoek, painter, dies at 72
- Jan 17 Thomas Lincoln, American farmer, carpenter, and father President Abraham Lincoln, dies at 73
- Jan 19 Esteban Echeverría, Argentine writer (b. 1805)
- Jan 21 (Gustav) Albert Lortzing, German Spieloper composer and actor (Zar und Zimmerman), dies at 49
- Jan 24 Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini, Italian opera composer and conductor (La Vestale), dies at 76
John James Audubon (1785-1851)
Jan 27 American ornithologist and painter (The Birds Of America), dies at 65
- Jan 27 Karl Moser, German composer and violinist, dies at 77
Mary Shelley (1797-1851)
Feb 1 English novelist (Frankenstein), dies of a brain tumor at 53
- Feb 16 Anne Willem Carel van Nagell, Dutch politician, dies at 95
- Feb 18 Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, German mathematician, dies at 46
- Feb 20 Josef Alois Ladurner, Austrian keyboardist, choral director, composer, and priest dies at 81
- Feb 23 Joanna Baillie, Scottish poet and playwright, dies at 88
- Feb 25 Ferdinand Simon Gassner, Austrian composer, dies at 53
- Mar 4 James Richardson, British explorer (Sahara Desert), dies of an illness near Lake Chad at 41
- Mar 4 Michael Henkel, German composer and organist, dies at 70
- Mar 6 Alexander Aliabiev, Russian composer remembered as one of the fathers of Russian art song, dies at 63
Hans Christian Ørsted (1777-1851)
Mar 9 Danish physicist (discovered electromagnetism), dies at 73
- Mar 11 George McDuffie, Governor of South Carolina (b. 1790)
- Apr 8 John Parry [Bardd Alaw], Welsh composer and harpist, dies at 75
- Apr 9 Antoine-Charles Glachant, composer, dies at 80
- May 17 Adriaan van Bevervoorde, Dutch journalist (Treason), dies at 31
- May 22 Mordecai Manuel Noah, American writer, journalist (b. 1755)
- May 23 Lucas Pieter Roodbaard, architect, dies at 69
- May 24 Stanko Vraz [Jakob Frass], Slovenian-Croatian poet (Grammatica), dies at 40
- Jul 4 Martin-Joseph Mengal, Belgian composer, and educator (Royal Conservatory of Ghent, 1835-51), dies at 67
- Jul 5 Juanita, Mexican, lynched by California gold diggers
- Jul 6 Thomas Davenport, American inventor (invented 1st commercial electric motor), dies at 48
Louis-Jacques Daguerre (1787-1851)
Jul 10 French inventor and photographer (daguerreotype), dies at 63
- Jul 17 Béni Egressy, Hungarian composer, librettist, and actor, dies at 37
- Aug 1 William Joseph Behr, German writer (b. 1775)
- Aug 11 Lorenz Oken, German naturalist, dies at 72
- Aug 19 Gioseffo Catrufo, Italian composer, dies at 80
- Sep 10 Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, American pioneer of educating the deaf, dies at 63
- Sep 11 Sylvester Graham, American nutritionist and minister (Graham cracker) (b. 1794)
James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)
Sep 14 1st major American novelist (The Last of the Mohicans), dies of dropsy at 61
- Oct 4 Manuel de Godoy, Spanish statesman (b. 1767)
- Oct 19 Princess Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte, eldest child of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, dies of pneumonia at 72
- Oct 31 Peter II, prince-bishop of Montenegro (1830-51) and poet (The Ray of The Microcosm), dies at 37
- Nov 18 Ernst August, duke of Cumberland/king of Hanover (1837-51), dies at 80
- Nov 20 Wenzel Sedlak, Bohemian clarinetist and composer, dies at 75
- Nov 26 Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult, French marshal, 10th Prime Minister of France, dies at 82
- Dec 16 Anne Nagell van Ampsen, Dutch politician and ambassador to England, dies at 95
J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851)
Dec 19 English landscape painter (Shipwreck, Rain, Steam & Speed), dies of cholera at 76
