- Jan 12 Isaac Pitman, British inventor (Pitman Shorthand) (b. 1813)
- Jan 29 John E. Smith, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), dies at 80
- Jan 30 John Cottam, cricket (Test for Aust 1897, no Sheffield matches), dies
- Feb 1 Constantin von Ettingshausen, Austrian geologist (b. 1826)
- Feb 5 Charles "Old Hoss" Radbourn, American pitcher won 60 games in 1884, dies at 42
- Feb 6 Ebenezer C Brewer, British writer (Dictionary of Phrase & Fable), dies
- Feb 7 Galileo Ferraris, Italian physicist and electrical engineer, dies at 49
- Feb 13 Joseph O. Shelby, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 66
- Feb 19 Karl Weierstrass, German mathematician (theory of functions), dies at 81
- Feb 22 Charles Blondin, French acrobat and tight rope walker, dies at 72
- Feb 23 Woldemar Bargiel, German composer, dies at 68
- Mar 9 Sondre Norheim, Norwegian skier and pioneer of modern skiing, dies at 71
- Mar 10 Teodulo Mabellini, Italian composer, dies at 79
- Mar 11 Berthold Tours, Dutch-English composer, dies at 58
- Mar 11 Henry Drummond, Scottish geologist, evangelist, dies at 45
- Mar 19 Antoine T. d'Abbadie, French explorer (Ethiopia), dies at 87
- Mar 20 Apollon Maykov, Russian poet, dies at 76
- Mar 27 Andreas Anagnostakis, Greek physician (b. 1826)
- Apr 3 Johannes Brahms, German composer and conductor (Hung Dances), dies at 63
- Apr 8 George Garrett, English composer, dies at 62
- Apr 8 Heinrich von Stephan, UK politician, dies
- Apr 23 Clement Harris, English composer, killed fighting in the Greco-Turkish war at 25
- May 2 William Cleaver Francis Robinson, composer, dies at 63
- May 10 William Thomas Best, English organist and composer, dies at 70
- May 10 Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino revolutionary leader (b. 1863)
- May 12 Ulrika "Minna" Cant-Johnstown, Finnish playwright, dies at 53
- May 12 Willem Roelofs, Dutch painter and lithographer, dies at 75
- May 21 Karol Mikuli, composer, dies at 77
- May 23 Aleko Konstantinov, Bulgarian writer (To Chicago & Back), dies at 34
- May 29 Julius von Sachs, German botanist and naturalist, dies at 64
- Jun 9 Alvan Graham Clark, American telescope maker and astronomer (Sirius B), dies 3 weeks after 1st use of Yerkes 40" lens at 64
- Jun 17 Sebastian Kneipp, Bavarian priest and naturopathist (known for "Kneipp Cure" form of hydrotherapy), dies at 76
- Jun 22 Ralph Abercromby, British meteorologist, dies at about 54
- Jun 25 Margaret Oliphant, Scottish novelist and biographer (Beleaguered City), dies at 69
- Jul 12 Félix Godefroid, Belgian harpist and composer, dies at 78
- Jul 14 John Franklin Farnsworth, American politician and Brigadier General (Union Army), dies at 77
- Jul 16 Levin Goldschmidt, German business law expert, dies at 1897
- Jul 20 Jean Ingelow, English poet (b. 1820)
- Jul 20 Philip Dale Roddey, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 71
- Jul 29 Joost G Kist, lawyer/president of High Council (1885-97), dies at 74
- Aug 8 Jacob Burckhardt, Swiss cultural historian, dies at 79
- Aug 9 Samuel McGowan, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 77
- Aug 13 Antonius von der Linde, Neth/German librarian, dies at 63
- Sep 20 Karel Bendl, Czech composer, dies at 59
- Sep 21 Wilhelm Wattenbach, German historian (b. 1819)
- Sep 22 Charles-Denis Bourbaki, French general, dies at 81
- Sep 30 St Therese of Lisieux, Roman Catholic saint and mystic (b. 1873)
- Oct 8 Martin Pluddemann, composer, dies at 43
- Oct 8 Alexei Savrasov, Russian painter, dies at 67
- Oct 9 John Heemskerk, Dutch politician (Minister of the Interior 1866-88), dies at 79
- Oct 11 Leon Boelmann, French organist/composer (Suite Gothique), dies at 35
- Oct 17 Isidor Dannström, Swedish composer, dies at 84
- Oct 19 George Pullman, American inventor and industrialist (b. 1831)
- Oct 21 Paul Kuczynski, Polish composer, dies at 50
- Oct 24 Francis Turner Palgrave, English poet (Golden Treasury), dies at 73
- Oct 28 Hercules Robinson, British colonial administrator (Ceylon, Fiji, New Zealand, South Africa), dies at 72
- Nov 6 Édouard Deldevez, French violinist and composer, dies at 80
- Nov 9 Moritz Heuzenroeder, composer, dies at 48
- Nov 15 John Mercer Langston, 1st African-American to hold US political office, dies at 67
- Nov 17 George Hendric Houghton, American Protestant Episcopal clergyman (b. 1820)
- Nov 19 William Seymour Tyler, American educator and historian (b. 1810).
- Nov 30 Abraham Carel Wertheim, Dutch banker and philanthropist, dies at 64
- Dec 16 Alphonse Daudet, French writer (Tartarin sur les Alpes), dies at 57
- Dec 18 Carlo A Alfieri, Italian Member of parliament, dies at 70
- Dec 28 William Corby, American Catholic priest and President of the University of Notre Dame, dies at 64
- Dec 29 William James Linton, American wood engraver and political reformer. (b. 1812)