- Jan 3 Henry Darcy, French hydraulic engineer (Darcy's Law), dies at 54
- Jan 3 Rachel Félix, Swiss-born French singer and actress in tragedies (mistress of Napoleon III), dies of tuberculosis at 36
- Jan 5 Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, Czech field marshal, dies at 91
- Jan 7 Willem Broes, Dutch vicar and theologist (Textenrol), dies at 91
- Jan 8 Friedrich Karl Kuhmstedt, composer, dies at 48
- Jan 9 Anson Jones, 5th and last President of Texas commits suicide at 59
- Jan 27 Gerrit van der Linde "The Schoolmaster" Dutch poet, dies at 49
- Jan 30 Coenraad Jacob Temminck, Dutch zoologist (b. 1778)
- Feb 13 Hermann Heinrich Gossen, Prussian economist, dies at 47
- Feb 16 Georg F. Creuzer, German philological and historian, dies at 86
- Feb 19 Alois Basil Nikolaus Tomasini, Italian violinist and composer, dies at 78
- Mar 3 Jozsef Bajza, Hungarian poet and critic, dies at 54
Matthew C. Perry (1794-1858)
Mar 4 Commodore of the United States Navy who opened Japan to Western influence and trade, dies of rheumatism at 63
- Mar 26 John Addison Thomas, American soldier and US Assistant Secretary of State, dies at 47
- Apr 3 Sigismund Ritter von Neukomm, Austrian composer and royal chaplain master, dies at 79
- Apr 7 Anton Diabelli, Austria publisher and composer, dies at 76
- Apr 16 Johann Baptist Cramer, German-British pianist, composer and music publisher, dies at 87
- Apr 28 Johannes Peter Müller, German physiologist, dies at 56
Aimé Bonpland (1773-1858)
May 4 French explorer and botanist who traveled with Alexander von Humboldt, dies at 84 (date disputed)
- Jun 3 Julius Reubke, German organist, pianist, and composer (Sonata on the 94th Psalm in c), dies of tuberculosis at 24
- Jun 10 Robert Brown, Scottish botanist (discovered 'Brownian Motion'), dies at 84
- Jun 11 Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, Austrian statesman (b. 1773)
- Jun 12 Cornelis Smit, Dutch ship builder, dies at 74
- Jun 12 William Horsley, English musician and composer, dies at 83
- Jun 15 Ary Scheffer, Dutch-French Romantic painter, etcher and sculptor, dies at 63
John Snow (1813-1858)
Jun 16 English epidemiologist who studied cholera and is considered the 'Father of modern epidemiology', dies of a stroke at 45
- Jun 17 Rani Lakshmibai, queen of Jhansi in North India, one of the leading figures of the Indian rebellion of 1857 (b. 1828)
- Jun 18 Lakshmi Bai, Indian Queen of the princely state of Jhansi in North India and leader of the Indian Mutiny (1857-58), dies at 23
- Jul 3 Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, Russian painter (b. 1806)
- Jul 6 Jan Emmanuel Doležálek, Bohemian organist and composer, dies at 78
- Aug 14 George Combe, phrenologist, dies
- Aug 18 William Austin Burt, American scientist, surveyor and inventor who patented America's first typographer (typewriter) and the equatorial sextant, dies at 66
- Sep 5 Moritz Gottlieb Saphir, Austrian satirical writer and journalist, dies at 63
- Sep 8 Jacopo Foroni, Italian opera composer (I gladiatori; Advokathen Panthelin), and conductor, dies during cholera epidemic at 34
- Sep 10 Henry Wellington Greatorex, English American composer (Gloria Patri), dies at 44
- Sep 11 Alexander Gurilyov, Russian composer, dies at 55
Dred Scott (c. 1799-1858)
Sep 17 US ex-slave who sought to sue for his freedom, dies of tuberculosis at 62 or 63
- Oct 10 Karl August Varnhagen von Ense, German biographer, diplomat and soldier (Die Sterner), dies at 73
- Oct 12 Ando Hiroshige, Japanese painter, dies at 61
- Oct 26 Isac Baker Woodbury, American composer, and musicologist (The Dulcimer: Or the New York Collection of Sacred Music), dies at 39
- Nov 8 George Peacock, English mathematician (algebraic theory), dies at 67
- Nov 17 Robert Owen, British father of the cooperative movement (b. 1771)
- Dec 9 Robert Baldwin, Canadian politician (b. 1804)
- Dec 12 Jacques Viger, French Canadian politician, 1st mayor of Montreal (1833-36), dies at 71
- Dec 16 Richard Bright, English physician (Bright's disease/nephritis), dies at 69
- Dec 18 Joseph-Henri-Ignace Mees, Flemish composer, dies at 81
- Dec 27 Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, French composer, dies at 73