- Jan 9 Don Joaquin BF Espartero, fieldmarshall/viceroy of Navarra, dies at 86
- Jan 13 Henry the Navigator, prince of the Netherlands, third son of King William II of the Netherlands, dies at 58
- Jan 16 Octave Crémazie, French Canadian poet, dies at 51
- Jan 22 Anthony Durnford, British colonel, dies in Battle of Isandlwana
- Jan 22 George Shepstone, British political affiliate, dies in battle
- Jan 23 Adolf Jensen, German composer, dies of tuberculosis at 42
- Jan 29 Antonia MB Antonucci, Italian cardinal/diplomat, dies at 80
- Feb 11 Honore Daumier, caricaturist/painter, dies
- Feb 11 Willem Josephus van Zeggelen, Dutch author, dies at 67
- Feb 21 Peter P van Bosse, Dutch liberal minister of Finance, dies at 69
- Feb 23 Albrecht von Roon, Prussian soldier and statesman (Minister of War), dies at 75
- Mar 1 Joachim Heer, Swiss politician, dies at 54
- Mar 2 John Eberhard Faber, German-American pencil manufacturer and built 1st large-scale pencil factory in US, dies at 56
- Mar 13 Adolf Anderssen, German world chess champion (1851-66), dies at 60
- Mar 30 David van der Kellen, Dutch coin engraver, dies at 74
- Mar 30 Thomas Couture, French painter/author, dies at 63
- Apr 4 Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, Prussian physicist and meteorologist, dies at 75
- Apr 8 Anthony Panizzi, Italian librarian at British Museum, dies at 81
- Apr 9 Ernst Richter, German musical theorist and composer, dies at 70
- Apr 16 Bernadette of Lourdes [Bernadette Soubirous], French saint (saw Virgin Mary at Lourdes), dies from tuberculosis at 35 in Nevers, France
- Apr 18 Anthony Pannizi, Italian-born British librarian (British Museum), dies at 81
- Apr 29 Douglas H. Cooper, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 63
- Apr 30 Emma Smith, Inaugural President of the Women's Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dies at 74
- Apr 30 Sarah Josepha Hale, American writer (Mary Had a Little Lamb), editor, activist, and founder of the Seaman's Aid Society of Boston, dies at 90
- May 4 William Froude, English engineer and naval architect, dies at 68
- May 15 Gottfried Semper, German architect (b. 1803)
- May 17 Asa Packer, railroad magnate and founder of Lehigh Valley Railroad (b. 1805)
- May 21 Arturo Prat, Chilean naval officer (b. 1848)
William Lloyd Garrison
May 24 William Lloyd Garrison, American abolitionist, and publisher ("The Liberator"), dies at 73
- Jun 1 Napoléon IV, Prince Imperial, Head of the House of Bonaparte (1873-79), killed in action during the Anglo-Zulu war at 23
- Jun 11 Willem, (crown)prince of Orange, dies of bronchitis or murder at 39
- Jul 6 Henry Smart, English organist and composer, dies at 65
- Jul 16 Edward Deas Thomson, Australian politician (b. 1800)
- Jul 17 Maurycy Gottlieb, Ukrainian painter (b. 1856)
- Aug 3 Joseph Severn, English painter (b. 1793)
- Aug 8 Immanuel Hermann Fichte, German philosopher, dies at 83
- Aug 22 Friedrich August Kummer, German cellist, composer, and pedagogue, dies at 82
- Aug 27 Rowland Hill, English inventor who introduced 1st adhesive postage stamp (1840), dies at 84
- Aug 30 John B Hood, confederate general (lost Atlanta), dies at 48
- Aug 31 William Barber, 6th US chief engraver (1844-79), dies
- Sep 8 Nikolay Ivanovich Zaremba, Russian musical teacher to Tchaikovsky and composer, dies at 58
- Sep 12 Peter Arnold Heise, Danish composer (Drot og Marsk (King and Marshal)), dies at 49
- Sep 14 Bernhard von Cotta, German geologist, dies at 70
- Sep 17 Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, French architect (b. 1814)
- Sep 28 Nathan Cook Meeker, American journalist and social reformer, murdered by Ute Indians at 62
- Oct 8 Miguel Grau Seminario 'Gentleman of the Seas', Peruvian Admiral, dies during the Battle of Angamos at 45
- Oct 13 Henry Charles Carey, American economist (Principles of Poli Economy), dies at 85
- Oct 14 F Kornberger, writer, dies at 58
- Oct 27 John Wilkins Whitfield, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 61
- Oct 28 Marie Roch Louis Reybaud, French writer (b. 1799)
- Oct 31 Big Snake, brother of Ponca chief Standing Bear, dies
- Oct 31 Jacob Abbott, American author (b. 1803)
- Oct 31 Joseph Hooker, American General (b. 1814)
- Nov 1 Zachariah Chandler, American merchant and politician (found Republican Party), dies at 65
James Clerk Maxwell
Nov 5 James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist (speed of light), dies of abdominal cancer at 48
