- Jan 3 Felix Dahn, German historian, jurist and poet, dies at 77
- Jan 7 Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake, English physician and feminist, dies at 71
- Jan 14 Otto Liebmann, German philosopher (Kant & Epigones), dies at 71
- Jan 16 Georg Heym, German writer, dies in an ice skating accident at 24
- Jan 24 James Allen, English writer (As a Man Thinketh), dies at 47
- Jan 28 Gustave de Molinari, Belgian economist (b. 1819)
- Jan 29 Hermann Bang, Danish writer, dies at 54