- Jan 3 Alois Hitler, father of Adolf Hitler, dies at 65
- Jan 4 Geo[rge J H] Poggenbeek, Dutch surrealist painter, dies at 49
- Jan 4 Gulstan Ropert, French Roman Catholic prelate, dies at 63
- Jan 4 Topsy the elephant (b. circa 1875)
- Jan 17 Ignaz Wechselmann, Hungarian architect and philanthropist (b. 1828)
- Jan 21 Hermanus Schaepman 'the doctor', Dutch poet, Roman Catholic priest, theologian, and politician, dies at 58
- Jan 28 Augusta Holmes, French composer, dies at 55
- Jan 28 Jean Robert Planquette, French composer (Bells of Corneville), dies at 54
- Feb 1 George Gabriel Stokes, Irish physicist & mathematician (spectroscope), dies at 83
- Feb 3 Frederick E Kitziger, composer, dies at 59
- Feb 11 Henryk Szulc, Polish violinist and composer, dies at 67
- Feb 12 Gaspar Núñez de Arce, Spanish dramatist and statesman (b. 1834)
- Feb 15 Julie Verstraete-Lacquet, Flemish actress, dies at 69
- Feb 17 Joseph Parry, Welsh composer and musician, dies at 61
- Feb 20 Charles Doolittle, American general (Union volunteer), dies at 70
- Feb 22 Frederick William Farrar, writer/dean (Canterbury 1895-1903), dies
- Feb 22 Hugo Filipp Jakob Wolf, Austrian composer (Corregidor), dies at 42
- Feb 23 Albert Cahen, French composer, dies at 57
- Feb 23 Friedrich Grutzmacher, composer, dies at 70
Richard Jordan Gatling (1818-1903)
Feb 26 American inventor famous for the Gatling Gun, the 1st hand-cranked machine gun, dies at 84
- Feb 28 Girolamo de Rada, Albanian poet (Skanderbeku), dies at 88
- Mar 4 Joseph Henry Shorthouse, English writer (John Inglesant), dies at 68
- Mar 5 George Francis Robert Henderson, British soldier (b. 1854)
- Mar 13 Nicolas Beets [Hildebrand], Dutch writer (Camera Obscura) and theologian, dies at 88
- Mar 14 Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch, Dutch landscape painter, dies at 88
- Mar 16 Roy Bean, American jurist
- Mar 21 Olive Oatman, American who was captured and lived with Native Americans, dies at 65
- Mar 29 Gustavus Franklin Swift, American founder of the meatpacking firm Swift & Company, dies at 63
- Mar 30 William Hicks "Red" Jackson, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 67
- Mar 31 Ebenezer Butterick, American inventor (tissue paper dress pattern), dies at 76
- Apr 4 Margaret Ann Neve, British 1st recorded female Supercentenarian, who lived in three centuries, dies at 110
- Apr 11 Gemma Galgani, Italian saint and mystic, dies of tuberculosis at 25
- Apr 22 Alexander Ramsey, American politician (1st Governor of Minnesota Territory), dies at 87
- Apr 28 Josiah Willard Gibbs, American theoretical physicist and chemist (created statistical mechanics, 1st US doctorate in engineering) dies at 64
- Apr 29 Paul du Chaillu, French-American explorer who the 1st modern explorer to confirm existence of gorillas and pygmies, dies aged between 61-73
- Apr 30 Emily Stowe, Canadian suffragist and first woman licensed to practise medicine in Canada, dies at 71
- May 1 Arthur Haygarth, English cricket batsman (Middlesex & Surrey, cricket historian), dies at 77
- May 1 Luigi Arditi, Italian violinist and composer, dies at 80
- May 4 Goce Delchev, a revolutionary from the Balkans - leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (b. 1872)
Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)
May 8 French painter who worked in French Polynesia, dies at 54
- May 13 Apolinario Mabini, Filipino political theoretician and 1st Prime Minister of the Philippines, dies at 38
- May 16 Eduard Rappoldi, composer, dies at 72
- May 19 Arthur Shrewsbury, English cricket batsman (23 Tests [7 captain]; 1277 runs @ 35 47; Nottinghamshire), dies at 47
- May 29 Bruce Price, American architect (Château Frontenac), dies at 57
- Jun 10 Luigi Cremona, Italian mathematician (grafostatica), dies at 72
- Jun 11 King Alexander I and Queen Draga of Serbia are assassinated by a group of army officers as part of a coup
- Jun 11 Nikolai Bugaev, Russian mathematician, dies at 65
- Jun 22 George White, African American resident of Delaware, lynched
- Jun 29 Rentaro Taki, Japanese pianist and composer, dies at 23
- Jul 2 Ed Delahanty, American Baseball HOF left fielder (NL batting champion 1899; NL home run leader 1893, 96; 3 × NL RBI leader; Philadelphia Phillies), dies intoxicated falling into Niagara Falls at 35
- Jul 7 José Augusto Ferreira Veiga, Viscount of Arneiro, Portuguese composer, dies at 64
- Jul 9 Alphonse François Renard, Belgian geologist, dies at 60
- Jul 13 August Reissmann, Prussian composer, dies at 77
- Jul 17 James McNeill Whistler, American-British painter (Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 aka "Whistler's Mother"), dies at 69
Calamity Jane (1852-1903)
Aug 1 American frontierswoman, dies at 51
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil (1830-1903)
Aug 22 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, British Prime Minister (Conservative: 1885-86, 1886-92 and 1895-1902), dies at 73
Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903)
Aug 28 American writer and landscape architect (designed Central Park), dies at 81
- Aug 29 William Henry Penrose, American Brigadier General (Union Army), dies at 71
- Aug 30 Vicente Fidel López, Argentine historian (Historia the Chile), dies at 87
- Sep 1 Charles Renouvier, French philosopher (neo criticism), dies
- Sep 3 Joseph Skipsey, British poet (b. 1832)
- Sep 4 Hermann Zumpe, German composer, dies at 53
- Sep 6 Charles Ammi Cutter, American librarian (Expansive classification), dies at 66
- Sep 18 Theodore Furchtegott Kirchner, German composer, dies at 79
- Sep 19 Sydir Vorobkevych, Ukrainian composer, poet, newspaper editor, and Orthodox priest, dies at 67
- Sep 27 Alson Sherman, American politician (8th Mayor of Chicago 1844-45), dies at 92
- Sep 28 Jesús de Monasterio, Spanish violinist, conductor, composer, and pedagogue (Madrid Conservatory, 1857-1903), dies at 67
- Oct 3 Benedetto Junck, Italian composer, dies at 51
- Oct 4 Otto Weininger, Austrian philosopher (b. 1880)
- Oct 7 Rudolf Lipschitz, German mathematician (b. 1832)
- Oct 23 Francis Ellingwood Abbot, American theologian (Scientific Theism), dies at 66
- Oct 26 Herbert Oakeley, English composer, dies at 73
- Oct 26 Victorin de Joncières, French composer (Dimitiri), and music critic, dies at 64
Theodor Mommsen (1817-1903)
Nov 1 German historian and scholar (Nobel Prize in Literature 1902), dies at 85
Camille Pissarro (1830-1903)
Nov 13 Danish Antillean and French Impressionist painter, dies at 73
- Nov 13 Wilhelm von Polenz, German author (Country of Zukunft), dies
Tom Horn (1860-1903)
Nov 20 American gunfighter and outlaw, hanged to death at 42
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
Dec 8 British philosopher (Social Statics), dies at 83
- Dec 11 Patrick McShane, Australian cricket player and umpire (1884-85 Ashes series), dies at 45
- Dec 20 Gavriil Musicescu, Romanian composer of choral music, conductor, and musicologist, dies at 56
- Dec 28 George Gissing, British novelist (New Grub Street, Charles Dickens: A Critical Study), dies from a chill at 46