- Jan 8 Philip Astley, English 'Father of the Modern Circus', born in Newcastle-under-Lyme, England (d. 1814)
- Jan 24 Anne, Duchess of Cumberland and Strathearn (d. 1808)
- Mar 19 Zacharias H Alewijn, Dutch literary/poet
- Mar 19 Tupac Amaru II, Incan revolutionary (d. 1781)
- May 13 Archduchess Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen (d. 1798)
- May 18 Lionel Lukin, British life boat pioneer, born in Great Dunmow, Essex (d. 1834)
- Jun 17 William Hooper, American attorney and signer of U.S. Declaration of Independence, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1790)
- Jun 26 Arthur Middleton, American signer (Declaration of Independence), born in Charleston, South Carolina (d. 1787)
- Jul 1 Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German physicist and writer (types of Lichtenberg), born in Ober-Ramstadt, Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1799)
Nathanael Greene
Aug 7 Nathanael Greene, American Military Leader (major general during the American Revolutionary War), born in Potowomut, Rhode Island (d. 1786)
Nathanael Greene
- Sep 14 James Wilson, One of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a signatory of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, born in Carskerdo, Scotland (d. 1798)
- Oct 12 Johann Peter Melchior, German sculptor, born in Lindorf, Germany (d. 1825)
- Nov 5 Richard Cosway, English portrait painter, born in Tiverton, England (d. 1821)
- Dec 9 Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Swedish pharmacist and chemist (lemon acid), born in Stralsund, Swedish Pomerania (d. 1786)
- Dec 16 Gebhard Fürst Blücher von Wahlstatt, German Field Marshal (d. 1819)
- Dec 25 Charlotte von Stein, German friend of Goethe (d. 1827)