- Jan 5 St John Nepomucene Neumann, 1st male US saint, dies
- Jan 12 Martinus J Niewindt, bishop on Curacao (christened slaves), dies at 63
- Jan 13 William Mason, American politician (b. 1786)
- Jan 27 János Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1802)
- Jan 27 Thomas Brisbane, British soldier, administrator and astronomer, dies at 86
- Feb 9 Eduard W van Dam van Isselt, Dutch milt/liberal politician, dies at 63
- Feb 20 Henry Drummond, English banker and religious leader, dies at 69
- Feb 25 Chauncey Allen Goodrich, American clergyman, educator, and lexicographer (b. 1790)
- Mar 25 James Braid, Scottish surgeon (b. 1795)
- Apr 16 Carolina, duchess of Berry/daughter of crown prince of Naples, dies
- May 12 Charles Barry, English architect (b. 1795)
- May 13 Christian Gmelin, German chemist, dies at 67
- May 14 Ludwig Bechstein, German writer (b. 1801)
- May 23 Albert Richard Smith, author/lecturer, dies
- May 31 Peter Vivian Daniel, American jurist, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1841-60), dies at 76
- Jun 25 Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, The Māori King, Waikato, New Zealand
- Jun 29 Thomas Addison, English physician (A-Biermer Disease), dies at 67
Charles Goodyear
Jul 1 Charles Goodyear, American chemist and manufacturing engineer who invented the vulcanization process for rubber, dies at 59
Charles Goodyear
- Jul 13 John Ackersdijk, Dutch state house builder, dies at 69
- Aug 11 James Wilson, politician
- Aug 13 Danillo II, ruler of Montenegro, dies
- Aug 14 André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist (b. 1774)
- Sep 3 Aleksey Stepanovich Khomyakov, Russian poet, dies at 56
- Sep 18 Casimiro de Abreu, Brazilians poet (Primaveras), dies
- Sep 18 Joseph Locke, railway engineer, dies
- Sep 21 Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (b. 1788)
- Sep 29 Chapin A. Harris, American dentist who founded the America Society of Dental Surgeons, dies at 54
- Oct 2 Louis Hersent, painter, dies
- Oct 12 Harry Smith, English military commander and leader of British-Indian forces (Battle of Aliwal), dies at 73
- Oct 24 Élie, Duke Decazes, French Bourbon Restoration politician (Sainte-Martin-de-Laye, France), dies at 80
- Oct 31 Johan Nathan, murderer, hanged
- Oct 31 Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, British admiral (b. 1775)
- Nov 8 Charles Fellows, English Archaeologist who discovered ruins of the cities of ancient Lycia and brought to Lycian marbles to England, dies
- Dec 2 Alfred Bunn, British theatrical manager (b. 1796)
- Dec 7 Konstantin Sergeyevich Aksakov, Russian historian and poet, dies at 43
- Dec 17 Désirée Clary, Queen of Sweden and Norway (b. 1777)
- Dec 28 Cornelius Broere, Dutch RC clergyman/poet, dies at 57