- Dec 6 Jan de Liefde II, Dutch vicar/author (People's Welfare), dies at 54
- Dec 18 Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American pianist and composer, dies at 40
Edwin Stanton
Dec 24 Edwin Stanton, US Secretary of War during most of the American Civil War (1861-65) and US Attorney General (1860-61), dies at 55
- Dec 26 Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille, French physician and physiologist (blood pressure), dies at 72