- Jan 10 Pierre A du Terrail, French writer, dies at 41
- Jan 19 Henri Regnault, French painter, dies at 27
- Jan 21 John J Rochussen, gov-general of Neth-Indies (1845-51), dies at 73
- Jan 29 Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé, French Canadian writer, dies at 84
- Feb 12 Alice Cary, American poet (Cincinnati Sentinel), dies at 50
- Feb 19 John B. Magruder, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 63
- Feb 20 Paul Kane, Irish-Canadian painter, dies at 60
- Feb 26 Charles Niellon, Belgian brigade general, dies at 76
- Feb 26 Sophia Hawthorne, American writer, painter and illustrator, dies at 61
- Mar 18 Augustus De Morgan, Indian-born British mathematician and logician (b. 1806)
- Mar 19 Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger, Austrian mineralogist (b. 1795)
- Mar 30 Louise, Dutch-born Queen of Sweden and Norway, dies at 42
- Apr 7 Alexander, grandson of English queen Victoria, dies at 1 day old
- Apr 7 Wilhelm Freiherr von Tegetthoff, Aus adm (Helgoland/Lissa), dies at 43
- Apr 7 Alexander Lloyd, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
- Apr 18 Omar Pasha [Mihajlo Latas], Serbian-Ottoman field marshal (Crimean War) and Governor (Bosnia, Iraq), dies at 64
- Apr 21 Elisabeth Grube, writer, dies
- Apr 29 John Gelinde van Blom, Frisian poet, dies at 75
- May 7 Louis-Joseph Papineau, Canadian political reformer (Patriote movement), dies at 84
- May 11 John Herschel, English cataloguer of southern hemisphere stars, dies at 79
- May 12 John F. W. Herschel, British astronomer (Catalogue of Nebulae), dies at 79
- Jun 7 Thomas Jackson Rodman, American military inventor of the rodman gun and perforated-cake gunpowder, dies on duty at 54
- Jun 8 Satank, Kiowa indian chief, shot to death
Anna Atkins
Jun 9 Anna Atkins, English botanist, photographer and the 1st person to publish a book illustrated with photographic images, dies of paralysis, rheumatism, and exhaustion at 72
Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin
Jun 13 Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, French magician and father of modern magic, dies of pneumonia at 65
- Jun 18 George Grote, British historian (History of Greece), dies at 76
- Jul 5 Cristina Trivulzio di Belgioioso, Italian princess and politician, dies at 63
- Jul 6 Antonio de Castro Alves, Brazilian poet (O navio negreiro), dies at 34
- Jul 16 Tad Lincoln, youngest son of U.S. president Abraham Lincoln, dies at 18
- Jul 31 Phoebe Cary, American poet (Poems of Alice & Phoebe Cary), dies at 46
- Aug 26 Charles Scribner, American magazine and book publisher, dies of typhoid fever at 50
- Aug 27 William Whiting Boardman, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut), dies at 76
- Sep 2 Arvid August Afzelius, Swedish poet and historian, dies at 85
- Sep 7 Cowper Phipps Coles, English inventor (revolving gun turret), drowns at 51
- Sep 7 Mehmed E Ali Pasja, Turkish statesman, dies
- Sep 23 Alexander N Afanasjev, Russian story teller, dies at 45
- Oct 5 Alexander Afanasyev, Russian ethnographer and folklorist, dies at 45
Charles Babbage
Oct 18 Charles Babbage, English mathematician/inventor (calculator), dies of renal failure at 79
- Oct 22 Roderick Murchison, Scottish Geologist (Silurian system), dies at 79
- Nov 11 William Lonsdale, English geologist and paleontologist (fossil coral), dies at 77
- Nov 22 Oscar J Dunn, (Lt Gov-La), dies suddenly, charges he was poisoned
- Dec 16 Willibald Alexis, German writer (Schloss Avalon), dies at 73