- Jan 1 Johan Hendrik Koelman, Dutch portrait painter, dies at 66
- Jan 14 Friedrich von Amerling, Austrian painter, dies at 83
- Jan 14 Peter Donders, Dutch Roman Catholic missionary to Suriname, dies at 77
- Jan 17 William Giblin, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1840)
- Feb 10 Ellen Wood, English author (Pomeroy Abbey), dies at 73
- Feb 10 Pieter Jan Baptist Carel Robidé van der Aa, Dutch Indologist and geographer, dies at 54
- Feb 19 Multatuli [Eduard Douwes Dekker], Dutch writer (Max Havelaar), dies at 66
- Feb 27 Alexander Borodin, Russian composer and scientist, dies at 53
- Mar 2 August W. Eichler, German botanist (developed a new system of classification of plants to reflect the concept of evolution), dies at 47
- Mar 2 Wilhelm Troszel, Polish operatic bass, composer, and voice teacher, dies at 63
- Mar 8 Pavel Annenkov, Russian literature historian/critic, dies at 73 (b. 1813)
- Mar 8 Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman (b. 1813)
- Mar 8 James Buchanan Eads, American engineer and inventor (Eads Bridge-St Louis), dies at 66
- Mar 16 Emanuel Kania, Polish composer, dies at 59
- Mar 24 Ivan Kramskoi, Russian painter and art critic, dies at 49
- Mar 28 Ditler G Monrad, Danish bishop/premier (1863-..), dies at 75
- Apr 11 Pyotr Petrovich Sokal'sky, Russian composer, dies at 54
- Apr 20 Muhammad Sharif Pasha, Egyptian statesman (b. 1826)
- Apr 28 Carl Ferdinand Pohl, German-Austrian music historian & composer, dies at 67
- Apr 30 Friedrich Wilhelm Markull, German composer, dies at 71
- May 7 Samuel Cousins, English mezzotint engraver, dies at 85
- May 7 C. F. W. Walther, American Lutheran theologian (b. 1811)
- May 8 Alexander Ulyanov, Russian revolutionary and brother of Vladimir Lenin, hanged for the attempted assassination of tsar Alexander III at 21
- May 11 Jean Baptiste Boussingault, French chemist, dies at 85
- May 14 Lysander Spooner, American philosopher (b. 1808)
- May 14 William Burnham Woods, American politician, judge, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), dies at 62
- May 23 Ludwig Mathias Lindeman, Norwegian composer and organist, dies at 74
- May 27 Coenraad J van Houten, Dutch cocoa manufacturer, dies at 86
- Jun 4 William A. Wheeler, American politician (19th Vice President of the United States), dies at 67
- Jun 12 Gustav Weber, Swiss organist, choral dierctor, and composer, dies at 41
- Jun 21 Adolf Schimon, Austrian German composer, dies at 67
- Jul 5 August F Pott, German philological (That Personennamen), dies
- Jul 14 Alfred Krupp, German steel merchant and largest arms manufacturer of his day, dies at 75
- Jul 16 Nicaise de Keyser, Flemish painter (Battle at Woeringen), dies at 73
Dorothea Dix
Jul 17 Dorothea Dix, American pioneering nurse and social activist who created the first American mental asylums, dies at 85
- Jul 25 John Taylor, American religious leader (3rd President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), dies at 78
- Jul 29 Agostino Depretis, Italian statesman, Prime Minister of Italy (1876-78, 1778-79, 1881-87), dies at 74
- Aug 1 Joseph Rainey, American politician, 1st African American in US House of Representatives (1870-1879), dies at 55
- Aug 8 Alexander William Doniphan, American lawyer and soldier, dies at 79
- Aug 14 Richard Jefferies, English naturalist and essayist, dies of tuberculosis at 38
- Aug 17 Franz Commer, German composer, dies at 74
- Aug 18 Orson Squire Fowler, American phrenologist and lecturer, dies at 77
- Aug 19 Alvan Clark, American astronomer and maker of the Dearborn Observatory telescope, the largest telescope in the world at the time, dies at 83
- Aug 20 Jules Laforgue, French poet (Les Complaintas), dies at 27
- Aug 27 Wilhelm Volkmar, German composer, dies at 74
- Sep 14 Friedrich Theodor Vischer, German philosopher and writer (Auch einer), dies at 80
- Sep 21 William Preston, American lawyer, politician and Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 70
- Sep 29 Bernhard von Langenbeck, German surgeon and founder of Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery, dies at 76
- Oct 7 George James Webb, English-American composer, dies at 84
- Oct 12 Dinah Craik, English writer (John Halifax, Gentleman), dies at 61
- Oct 17 Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist (spectroscopy, coined "black body" radiation), dies at 63
- Oct 31 George Alexander Macfarren, British composer and musicologist, dies at 74
- Nov 2 Swedish Nightingale [Jenny Lind], Swedish soprano, dies at 67
Doc Holliday
Nov 8 John "Doc" Holliday, American dentist, gambler and gunfighter, dies of tuberculosis at 36
Emma Lazarus
Nov 19 Emma Lazarus, American poet ("Give us your tired & poor"), dies in New York at 38
- Nov 20 Louis Gallait, Belgian historical painter (Egmont & Receiver), dies at 77
- Nov 25 Johann J Bachofen, Swiss historic rights, dies at 71
- Dec 1 Albertus J. Duymaer van Twist, Dutch Governor-General of Dutch East Indies, dies at 78
- Dec 5 Eliza Roxcy Snow, American poet (b. 1804)
- Dec 9 Mahmadu Lamine, Senegalese marabout and military leader
- Dec 26 Jules Francois Blasini, Curacaos pianist/composer, dies at 40