- Jan 4 Nicolás Ledesma, Spanish organist and composer, dies at 91
- Jan 4 Antoine Eugène Alfred Chanzy, French general (b. 1823)
- Jan 5 Charles Tompson, first Australian published poet (b. 1806)
- Jan 10 Samuel Mudd, American physician (imprisoned for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth), dies of pneumonia at 49
- Jan 21 Jacopo Tomadini, Italian composer, dies at 62
- Jan 23 Gustave Doré, French artist, engraver, and illustrator (b. 1832)
- Jan 24 Friedrich von Flotow, German composer, dies at 70