- Jan 13 John Davis, 14th and 17th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1854)
- Feb 16 Andreas Schelfhout, Dutch landscape painter, etcher and lithographer, born in The Hague (d. 1870)
- Feb 23 Emma Willard, American women's rights activist and educator who founded the 1st school for women's higher education in the US, born in Berlin, Connecticut (d. 1870)
- Mar 6 Joseph von Fraunhofer, German physicist and optical lens manufacturer (studied Sun's spectrum, invented the spectroscope), born in Straubing, Bavaria (d. 1826)
Karl Ferdinand von Graefe (1787-1840)
Mar 8 German surgeon who helped create modern plastic immunologist, born in Warsaw, Poland
- Mar 10 William Etty, English painter of historical nudes, born in York, England (d. 1849)
- Mar 11 Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (d. 1852)
- Apr 13 John Robertson, American politician, born in Petersburg, Virginia (d. 1873)
- Apr 19 Deaf Smith, American frontiersman and revolutionary, born in Dutchess County, New York (d. 1837)
- Apr 26 Ludwig Uhland, German writer, born in Tübingen, Württemberg (d. 1862)
- May 7 Jacques Viger, French Canadian politician, 1st mayor of Montreal (1833-36), born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 1858)
- Jun 4 Constant Prévost, French geologist, born in Paris (d. 1856)
- Jun 27 Thomas Say, American naturalist and father of descriptive entomology, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1834)
- Jun 28 Harry Smith, English military commander and leader of British-Indian forces (Battle of Aliwal), born in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, England (d. 1860)
- Jul 13 Pellegrino Rossi, Italian economist and politician, born in Carrara, Duchy of Massa and Carrara (now Italy) (d. 1848)
- Aug 24 James Weddell, British sailor and Antarctic explorer (Weddell Sea), born in Ostend, Belgium (d. 1834)
- Sep 1 Jan Bake, Dutch linguist, literature professor, teacher, and critic, born in Leiden, South Holland, Netherlands (d. 1864)
- Sep 5 François Sulpice Beudant, French mineralogist and geologist, born in Paris (d. 1850)
- Sep 10 John J. Crittenden, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky), born in Versailles, Kentucky (d. 1863)
- Sep 18 Johann David Passavant, German historian, painter and graphic artist, born in Frankfurt, Germany (d. 1861)
- Oct 4 François Guizot, French historian and politician (17th Prime Minister of France), born in Nîmes, France (d. 1874)
Louis-Jacques Daguerre (1787-1851)
Nov 18 French inventor and photographer (daguerreotype), born in Cormeilles-en-Parisis, France
- Nov 21 Samuel Cunard, Canadian-British shipping magnate and founder (1st regular Atlantic steamship line), born in Halifax, Nova Scotia (d. 1865)
- Nov 22 Rasmus Rask, Danish linguist and philologist (Investigation of the Origin of the Old Norse or Icelandic Language), born in Braendekilde, Denmark (d. 1832)
- Nov 27 Jacob van Rechteren van Appeltern, Dutch politician (advocated for elections as one of "Nine Men"), born in Appeltern, Netherlands (d. 1845)
- Dec 9 John Dobson, English architect, born in High Chirton, North Shields, England (d. 1865)
- Dec 10 Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, American pioneer of educating the deaf, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1851)
- Dec 14 Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este, Empress of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia, born in Monza, Duchy of Milan (d. 1816)
- Dec 15 Charles Cowden Clarke, English editor and Shakespearean critic, born in Enfield, Middlesex, England (d. 1877)
- Dec 16 Mary Russell Mitford, English writer (d. 1855)
- Dec 28 Hermanus J. Abbring, Dutch engineer and writer on Curacao (d. 1874)