- Jan 5 Theodoor Verstraete, Flemish painter & etcher, born in Ghent, Belgium (d. 1907)
- Jan 6 Eduard Bernstein, German Marxist (New Era), born in Schöneberg, Prussia (d. 1932)
- Jan 10 John Wellborn Root, American architect, born in Lumpkin, Georgia (d. 1891)
- Jan 11 J. C. Arthur, American botanist (studied parasitic fungi rusts), born in Lowville, New York (d. 1842)
- Jan 11 Philipp von Ferrary, French philatelist (compiled world's most complete stamp collection), born in Paris, France (d. 1917)
- Jan 14 Pierre Loti, French naval officer & novelist, born in Rochefort, France (d. 1923)
- Jan 15 Mihail Eminesco [Eminovici], Romanian poet (Samanul Dionis), born in Botoșani, Romania (d. 1889)
- Jan 15 Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian mathematician, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1891)
- Jan 18 Seth Low, American politician (d. 1916)
Edward Smith (1850-1912)
Jan 27 English naval captain of the RMS Titanic, born in Hanley, Staffordshire
- Jan 27 John Collier, English painter (Lady Godiva) and writer, born in Paddington, England (d. 1934)
Samuel Gompers (1850-1924)
Jan 27 American labor union leader (American Federation of Labor), born in London, England
- Jan 29 Ebenezer Howard, English pioneer of garden cities, born in London, England (d. 1928)
- Jan 29 Lawrence Hargrave, English-born aviation pioneer and inventor (box kite), born in London, England (d. d. 1915)
- Feb 2 Carel Victor Gerritsen, Dutch politician and free thinker (husband of suffragette Aletta Jacobs), born in Amersfoort, Netherlands (d. 1905)
- Feb 12 Amaat Vyncke, Belgian missionary to the Upper Congo (Flemish Flag), born in Zedelgem, Belgium (d. 1888)
- Feb 16 Octave Mirbeau, French writer (Journal of a Lady's Maid), born in Trévières,, France (d. 1917)
- Feb 20 Nérée Beauchemin, Canadian physician and poet (d. 1931)
- Feb 22 Isaac Rice, German-American businessman (namesake of Columbia Univ's Rice stadium, Electric Boat Company), born in Wachenheim, Bavaria (d. 1915)
- Feb 23 César Ritz, Swiss hotelier (d. 1918)
- Feb 27 Henry Edwards Huntington, American railroad executive (owned Pacific Electric Railway), born in Oneonta, New York (d. 1927)
- Feb 28 Hermann Schell, German theologist and philosopher (Gott und Geist) (d. 1906)
- Mar 7 Champ Clark, American politician, US Speaker of the House (1911-19), born in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky (d. 1921)
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850-1937)
Mar 7 Czech philosopher and 1st President of Czechoslovakia (1918-35), born in Hodonín, Austrian Empire
- Mar 10 Mary Mills Patrick, American author and 1st President of Istanbul Woman's College, born in Canterbury, New Hampshire (d. 1940)
- Mar 24 Silas Hocking, British novelist and preacher (d. 1935)
- Mar 26 Edward Bellamy, American author (Looking Backward) and socialist, born in Chicopee, Massachusetts (d. 1898)
- Apr 8 William H. Welch, American pathologist who founded Johns Hopkins Hospital, born in Norfolk, Connecticut (d. 1934)
- Apr 13 Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, British mathematician and astronomer, born in County Carlow, Ireland (d. 1917)
- Apr 15 John Munro Longyear, American capitalist and developer of timber and mineral lands, born in Lansing, Michigan (d. 1922)
- Apr 16 Herbert Baxter Adams, American historian (American Historical Association), born in Shutesbury, Massachusetts (d. 1901)
- Apr 19 Edward John Gregory, British painter and engraver, born in Southampton, England (d. 1909)
- Apr 20 Daniel Chester French, American sculptor (Minute Man), born in Exeter, New Hampshire (d. 1931)
- Apr 24 John Lawson Stoddard, American lecturer, photographer, and author, considered the father of travelogue, born in Brookline, Massachusetts (d. 1931)
- Apr 27 Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German Colonel General, born in Greifswald, Prussia (d. 1921)
- May 1 Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Governor General of Canada (1911-16), born in Buckingham Palace, London (d. 1942)
- May 12 Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. statesman, born in Beverly, Massachusetts (d. 1924)
- May 18 Oliver Heaviside, English physicist (predicted ionosphere), born in London, England (d. 1925)
- May 21 Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian volcanologist (d. 1914)
- May 24 Ernest Albert Waterlow, English water-color painter, born in London (d. 1919)
- May 27 Thomas Neill Cream, Scottish-Canadian serial killer (Lambeth poisoner), born in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 1892)
- Jun 4 John Blair Scribner, American magazine and book publisher, born in New York City (d. 1879)
- Jun 5 Pat Garrett, American Western lawman, born in Chambers County, Alabama (d. 1908)
- Jun 6 Karl Ferdinand Braun, German inventor, co-developed wireless telegraphy (Nobel 1909), born in Fulda, Electorate of Hessen, Germany (d. 1918)
- Jun 19 David Jayne Hill, American diplomat and author, born in Plainfield, New Jersey (d. 1932)
Horatio Kitchener (1850-1916)
Jun 24 British General who commanded British forces during the Battle of Omdurman (Sudan) and the Second Boer War who became British Secretary of State for War during WWI (1914-16), born in Ballylongford, County Kerry, Ireland
- Jun 27 Ivan Vazov, Bulgarian poet, novelist and playwright (Under the Yoke), born in Sopot, Bulgaria (d. 1921)
- Jun 27 Jørgen Pedersen Gram, Danish mathematician (Gram–Schmidt process), born in Duchy of Schleswig, Denmark (d. 1919)
- Jun 27 Lafcadio Hearn, American author (Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan), born in Leucas, Greece (d. 1904)
- Jul 11 Annie Armstrong, American missionary leader, born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1938)
- Jul 12 Otto Schoetensack, German anthropologist, born in Stendal, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany (d. 1912)
- Jul 15 Francesca Xavier Cabrini [Mother Cabrini], 1st US saint
- Jul 18 Rose Hartwick Thorpe, American poet (Curfew Must Not Ring) and writer, born in Mishawaka, Indiana, Kansas (d. 1939)
- Aug 3 Paulus Adrianus Daum, Dutch writer, founder and editor (Batavian Newspaper), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1898)
- Aug 3 Reginald Heber Roe, 1st Vice-Chancellor of the University of Queensland and 2nd Headmaster of Brisbane Grammar School, born in Blandford, Dorset, England (d. 1926)
Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
Aug 5 French author (Boule de Suif), born in Château de Miromesnil, France
- Aug 26 Charles Richet, French physiologist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1913 for work on anaphylaxis), born in Paris, France (d. 1935)
- Sep 2 Eugene Field, author/journalist (Little Boy Blue)
- Sep 2 Woldemar Voigt, German physicist (d. 1919)
- Sep 4 Luigi Cadorna, Italian fieldmarshal (WW I-Caporetto), born in Verbania, Kingdom of Sardinia (d. 1928)
- Sep 6 Louis Apol, Dutch painter, etcher and literary, born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1936)
- Sep 9 Harishchandra, Indian poet, dramatist and commonly referred as "father of modern Hindi", born in Vārānasi, India (d. 1885)
- Sep 9 Jane Ellen Harrison, British anthropologist and linguist, born in Cottingham, Yorkshire (d. 1928)
- Oct 4 John McGraw, American politician 2nd Governor of Washington (1893-97), born in Penobscot County, Maine (d. 1910)
- Oct 5 Sergey Muromtsev, Russian lawyer, politician and President of the First Imperial Duma, born in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire (d. 1910)
- Oct 8 Henri Louis le Chatelier, French chemist, born in Paris (d. 1936)
- Oct 19 Annie Smith Peck, American mountain climber/explorer/diplomat, born in Providence, Rhode Island (d. 1935)
- Nov 5 Ella Wheeler Wilcox, American author and poet (Poems of Passion), born in Johnstown, Wisconsin (d. 1919)
- Nov 9 Lewis Lewin, German toxicologist (father of psychopharmacologist), born in Tuchel, West Prussia (d. 1929)
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Nov 13 Scottish novelist (Treasure Island; Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde), born in Edinburgh, Scotland
- Nov 26 Henricus van de Wetering, Archbishop of Utrecht (1895-1929), born in Hoogland, Netherlands (d. 1929)
- Dec 22 Constantin Fahlberg, Russian chemist who discovered Saccharin (artificial sweetener), born in Tambov, Russia (d. 1910) [1]
- Dec 30 John Milne, British geologist (developed the first modern seismograph), born in Liverpool, England (d. 1913)