- Oct 4 Barbados Joe Walcott, Barbadian boxer (World Welterweight champion 1901-06; first black to hold title), dies in a car accident at 62
- Oct 6 Frederic Hymen Cowen, composer, dies at 83
- Oct 10 Arthur Henderson, British Labour minister (Nobel Peace Prize 1934), dies at 72
- Oct 11 Frank Mitchell, cricketer (2 Tests for Eng then 3 for South Africa), dies
- Oct 11 Steele Rudd, Australian author (b. 1868)
- Oct 20 Adolphus Washington Greely, American Arctic explorer and recipient of the Medal of Honor, dies at 91
- Oct 22 Komitas [Soghomon Soghomonian], Armenian priest and composer, dies at 66
- Oct 23 Abe Landau, American gangster, murdered
- Oct 23 Dutch Schultz [Arthur Flegenheimer], American gangster, murdered at 33
- Oct 23 Otto "Aba Daba" Berman, American gangster, murdered
- Oct 26 Akos Buttykai, Hungarian composer, dies at 64
- Oct 27 E. A. D. [Ernest Arthur Douglas] Eldridge, British racing driver, dies at 40