Famous Deaths in 1881

Thomas Carlyle

Feb 5 Thomas Carlyle, Scottish historian and essayist (The French Revolution), dies in London at 85

Feb 6 Pieter Mijer, Gov-Gen of Neth Indies (1866-72), dies at 68
Feb 7 Fredrik Cygnaeus, Finnish poet/literature critic, dies at 73

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Feb 9 Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist (Crime and Punishment, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man) who helped shape literary modernism and existentialism, dies from a pulmonary haemorrhage at 59

Feb 14 Fernando Wood, New York City mayor (b. 1812)
Feb 27 George Colley, British governor of Natal/general, dies in battle at 46
Mar 6 Horatia Nelson, the illegitimate daughter of Emma Hamilton and Horatio Nelson (b. 1801)

Alexander II

Mar 13 Alexander II, Tsar of Russia (1855-81), assassinated by members of far-left terror group 'People's Will' at 62

Mar 15 Emory Upton, Bvt Major General (Union Army), commits suicide at 41
Mar 21 Samuel Courtauld, American-born textile magnate (b. 1793)

Mar 23 Nikolay Rubinstein, composer, dies at 45
Mar 24 Friedrich Hecker, German revolutionary republican politician, dies at 69
Mar 24 Joseph Delesse, French geologist (b. 1817)
Mar 26 Roman Sanguszko, Polish aristocrat (b. 1800)
Mar 28 Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, Russian composer (Boris Godunov), dies at 42 [OS=Mar 16]
Mar 31 Gaetano Gaspari, composer, dies at 73
Apr 7 Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte, Corsican representative of the people, dies at 65
Apr 11 Kristian Mandrup Elster, Norwegian author (Torn Trondal), dies at 40
Apr 15 Sophia Perovskaya, Soviet icon, aristocrat, and socialist revolutionary (Narodnaya Volya), who helped orchestrate the successful assassination of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, executed by hanging at 27
Apr 16 George William Martin, composer, dies at 56

Benjamin Disraeli

Apr 19 Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, British Prime Minister (Tory: 1868, 1874-80) and writer, dies of bronchitis at 76

Apr 19 Michel Abeloos, Flemish sculptor, dies at 53
Apr 26 Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, German general (b. 1815)
Apr 27 Ludwig A Benedek, Austrian general, dies at 76
Apr 28 Robert W Ollinger, American warden and the last victim of Billy the Kid, dies
May 1 John S. Preston, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 72
May 3 Josip Jurcic, Slovic writer (Schone Vida), dies
May 11 Henri-Frédéric Amiel, Swiss writer (Journal Intime), dies at 59
May 24 Samuel Palmer, British landscape painter, dies at 76
May 26 Jakob Bernays, German philologist (b. 1824)
Jun 2 Émile Littré, French lexicographer (b. 1801)
Jun 3 Japanese giant salamander, dies in Dutch zoo at 55; oldest amphibian
Jun 6 Henry Vieuxtemps, Belgian composer, dies at 61
Jun 13 Joseph Škoda, Bohemian physician, dies at 75
Jun 16 Marie Laveau, American Voodoo practitioner (b. 1801)

Jun 16 Sir Josiah Mason, English manufacturer (b. 1795)
Jun 28 Jules Armand Dufaure, French statesman (Prime Minister of France 1871-73), dies at 82
Jul 4 Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish statesman (b. 1806)
Jul 10 Georg Hermann Nicolai, German architect (b. 1812)

Billy the Kid

Jul 14 Billy the Kid [William H Bonney], American frontier outlaw, shot by sheriff Pat Garrett and dies of gunshot wounds at 21

Jul 17 Jim Bridger, American mountain man, Indian fighter, and explorer (b. 1804)
Jul 19 Isaac Baumann, Jewish pioneer and trader in Bloemfontein, South Africa, dies at 67
Jul 20 Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, English 1st baron of Hesketh, dies
Jul 26 George Borrow, writer, dies
Jul 27 Johann Christian Lobe, composer, dies at 84
Aug 2 Marcus Andrews Hislop Clarke, author (His Natural Life) at 35
Aug 6 James Springer White, American theologian (co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church), dies at 60
Aug 19 Joseph Labitzky, Bohemian composer, dies at 79
Sep 7 Sidney Clopton Lanier, composer, dies at 39
Sep 8 W Frederik K, prince of Netherlands/general/admiral, dies at 84

Ambrose Burnside

Sep 13 Ambrose Burnside, American soldier, politician and industrialist (Governor of Rhode Island, 1866-69), dies of a heart attack at 57

James Garfield

Sep 19 James A. Garfield, 20th US President (Republican: 1881), dies of a gunshot wound at 49

Sep 22 Solomon L. Spink, U.S. Congressman from Illinois (b. 1831)
Sep 24 Luigi Ferdinando Casamorata, composer, dies at 74
Oct 3 Orson Pratt, American mathematician and religious leader, dies at 70
Oct 22 Janis Cimze, Latvian composer, Father of Latvian choir music, dies at 67
Oct 26 Billy Clanton, brother of Ike, dies
Oct 31 George Washington De Long, American Arctic Explorer, dies during his disastrous expedition to the North Pole at 37
Nov 1 Jacques F H Perk, Dutch poet (Iris), dies at 22
Nov 7 John MacHale, Irish Archbishop (Tuam) and writer (b. 1791)
Nov 9 Edwin Drake, American businessman who drilled 1st productive US oil well, dies at 61
Nov 21 Ami Boué, Austrian geologist (b. 1794)
Nov 25 Theobald Boehm, German inventor of the modern flute, dies at 87
Dec 7 Julius FA Bahnsen, German philosopher (Tragic as Weltgesetz), dies at 51
Dec 13 August Senoa, Croatian writer (Kletva [The Curse]), dies at 43
Dec 17 Lewis H Morgan, US ethnologist (Iroquois-indians), dies at 62

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