- 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