- Jan 7 James Fisk, American entrepreneur (b. 1834)
- Jan 14 Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye-Terrier who spent 14 years guarding the grave of his owner John Gray, dies at 16
- Jan 21 Franz Grillparzer, Austrian playwright (Sappho/Libussa), dies at 81
- Feb 21 Pavel P Gagarin, Russian monarch/politician, dies at 82
- Mar 4 Johannes Carsten Hauch, Danish poet (b. 1790)
- Mar 10 Giuseppe Mazzini, Italian revolutionary (Giovane Italy), dies at 66
- Mar 12 Zeng Guofan, Chinese politician and general (b. 1811)
- Mar 30 Nikolaos Mantzaros, Italian-Greek composer, dies at 76
- Apr 1 Frederick Maurice, English theologian of the Church of England, dies at 66
- Apr 1 William Frederick Horry, English convicted murderer (b. 1843)
Samuel Morse
Apr 2 Samuel Morse developer of electric telegraph, dies at 80
Samuel Morse
- Apr 9 Erastus Corning, American businessman and politician (b. 1794)
- Apr 12 Nikolaos Mantzaros, Greek composer (b. 1795)
- Apr 20 Ljudwit Gaj, Croatian writer/poet (Pjesma iz Zagorja), dies at 62
- Apr 27 Ion Heliade-Radulescu, Romanian politician/author, dies at 70
- May 1 Amalia, princess of Weimar/wife of prince Hendrik the Navigator, dies
- May 15 Thomas Hastings, American composer, dies at 87
- May 17 Eduard Sobolewski, Polish-American violinist and composer, dies at 63
- May 19 Johan van Dale, schoolmaster (New Dutch Language Wordbook), dies at 44
- May 24 Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, German painter and designer who figured importantly in the German Nazarene movement, dies at 78
- May 29 John Gill Shorter, American politician (17th Governor of Alabama), dies at 54
James Gordon Bennett
Jun 1 James Gordon Bennett, Sr., American newspaper publisher (New York Herald), dies at 76
James Gordon Bennett
- Jun 3 Heinrich Esser, composer, dies at 53
- Jun 4 Johan R Thorbecke, literature/liberal premier, dies
- Jun 4 Stanisław Moniuszko, Polish composer, dies at 53
- Jun 16 Norman MacLeod, Scottish clergyman (b. 1812)
- Jun 28 Ludwig Friedrich Hetsch, composer, dies at 66
- Jul 18 Benito Juarez, Cuban justice/general (battle of Acapulco), dies at 66
- Jul 26 Michele Carafa, composer, dies at 84
- Jul 28 Friedrich Kaiser, astronomer (Kaiser-Compass), dies
- Aug 2 Judocus Smits, Dutch RC newspaper publisher (De Tijd), dies at 59
- Aug 11 Lowell Mason, US organist/composer (Zebulo), dies at 80
- Aug 19 Eugene-Prosper Prevost, French composer, dies at 63
- Sep 2 N. F. S. Grundtvig, Danish writer and philosopher, dies at 88
- Sep 7 Antoni Stolpe, Polish pianist and composer, dies at 21
- Sep 13 Ludwig A Feuerbach, German philosopher (Man what he eats), dies at 68
- Sep 14 Yury Nikolayevich Golitsin, composer, dies at 48
- Sep 18 Charles XV, King of Sweden and Norway (1859-72), dies at 46
- Sep 22 Vladimir Dal, Russian lexicographer, dies at 70
- Oct 2 Eberhard Friedrich Walcker, German organ builder (Paulskirche Frankfurt A/M), dies at 78
William H. Seward
Oct 10 William H. Seward, American politician (Secretary of State, 1861-69, Governor of New York, 1839-42), dies at 71
William H. Seward
- Oct 14 Prince Albert of Prussia, Prussian colonel general, dies at 63
- Oct 21 Jacques Babinet, French physicist/mathematician/astronomer, dies at 78
- Oct 23 Théophile Gautier, French writer, historian and poet (Albertus, La Chanson de Roland, Émaux et camées), dies at 61
- Nov 7 Alfred Clebsch, German mathematician (b. 1833)
- Nov 23 Ten Bears (Parra-Wa-Samen), US poet/Comanche chief, dies
- Nov 28 Mary Fairfax Somerville, British scientific writer (b. 1780)
- Nov 29 Cornelius Kreighoff, Canadian, dies
- Nov 29 Giovanni Tadolini, composer, dies at 83
- Nov 29 Horace Greeley, US founder/publisher (NY Tribune), dies at 61
- Dec 11 Kamehameha V, Hawaiian king (b. 1830)
- Dec 12 Willem Anne Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, Dutch politician, dies at 72
- Dec 12 Edwin Forrest, American actor and philanthropist, dies at 66
- Dec 13 Helena Beeloo, a maid, murdered by Henry Jut at the Hague, Netherlands
- Dec 13 W T van der Kouwen-ten Cate, murdered by Henry Jut at the Hague, Netherlands
- Dec 24 William John Macquorn Rankine, Scottish mechanical engineer and physicist, dies at 52
- Dec 28 James Van Ness, Mayor of San Francisco (1855-1856) (b. 1808)
- Dec 31 Aleksis Kivi, Finnish writer and poet (Kanervala), dies at 38