- Jan 2 John Casteret earl Granville, English premier, dies at 72
- Jan 11 Caspar Abel, German theologian, historian, and poet (b. 1676)
- Jan 27 John Theodor of Bavaria, prince-bishop of Liege/cardinal, dies
- Jan 27 Johann Theodor of Bavaria, Prince-Bishop of Regensburg, Freising and Liège, dies at 59
- Jan 29 Louis Racine, French poet (La Religion), dies at 70
- Feb 11 William Shenstone, English poet, dies at 48
- Feb 12 Pierre de Marivaux, French writer (b. 1688)
- May 3 George Psalmanazar, British impostor (b. 1679)
- Jul 31 James Kent, Fredericksburgh NY, legal scholar (Columbia), dies
- Aug 9 John Althuysen, Fries vicar/poet (Frysk Jierboek), dies at 47
- Aug 21 Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont, British statesman (b. 1710)
- Sep 26 John Byron, English poet (b. 1692)
- Oct 5 August III, king of Poland, dies at 66
- Oct 17 Arnold Hoogvliet, Dutch poet (Abraham the patriarch), dies at 76
- Oct 22 French van Mieris "the Young", painter/historian, dies at 73
- Oct 28 Heinrich von Brühl, German statesman, dies at 63
- Nov 23 Friedrich Graf von Seckendorf, German soldier (b. 1673)