- Jan 3 James Merritt Ives, American lithographer with Nathaniel Currier (b. 1824)
- Jan 9 Aaron Lufkin Dennison, American watch manufacturer (b. 1812)
- Jan 24 Lord Randolph Churchill, British politician (b. 1849)
- Jan 26 Arthur Cayley, mathematician, dies
- Jan 28 Francois Certain de Canrobert, French marshal, dies at 85
- Feb 2 Archduke Albert, Austrian general (b. 1817)
- Feb 18 Albrecht FR, arch duke of Austrian (Battle at Custozza), dies at 77
Frederick Douglass
Feb 20 Frederick Douglass, African-American abolitionist, lecturer and editor who was also an escaped slave, dies of a heart attack at 77
Frederick Douglass
- Mar 2 Berthe MP Morisot, French painter/aquarelliste, dies at 54
- Mar 2 Ismail Pasha, kedive of Egypt (1863-79), dies at 64
- Mar 5 Nikolai Leskow, writer, dies at 64
- Mar 5 Henry Rawlinson, British army officer and scholar, dies at 84
- Mar 6 Camilla Collett, Norwegian writer and feminist (b. 1813)
- Mar 9 Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian writer (Masochism), dies at 59
- Mar 10 Charles Frederick Worth, English fashion designer (House of Worth), dies at 69
- Mar 13 Louise Otto-Peters, German suffragist, women's rights movement activist and author (The Wandering Star), dies at 75
- Apr 11 Julius Lothar Meyer, German Chemist, dies at 64
- Apr 19 George Scharf, critic, dies
- Apr 19 Victor J van Hinsbergh, South Neth engraver (PTT-stempels), dies at 70
- Apr 23 Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig, physiologist, dies
- Apr 23 Carl Ludwig, German physician (b. 1815)
- Apr 30 Gustav Freytag, writer, dies at 78
- May 15 Joseph Whitaker, British publisher (Whitaker's Almanack), dies at 75
- May 19 Jose J Marti y Perez, Spanish/Cuban poet (Versos sencillos), dies
- May 23 Franz E. Neumann, German mineralogist, mathematician and physicist, dies at 96
- May 24 Joseph Quinaux, Belgian painter (landscape paintings), dies at 73
- May 24 Hugh McCulloch, US Treasury Secretary (1884-85, 85-69), dies at 86
- May 25 Ahmed Djevdet Pasja, Turkish minister of Justice, dies at 73
- Jun 29 Thomas Henry Huxley, English biologist (comparative anatomy), dies at 70
- Jul 8 Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian scientist (b. 1821)
- Jul 19 Charles T Stork, great industrialist (cotton mach factory), dies at 73
- Jul 19 Ernest H Baillon, French botanist (History of Plants), dies at 67
- Jul 28 Joannes Kappeyne van Coppello, Internal minister (1877-89), dies at 72
- Jul 31 Richard Morris Hunt, American architect and educator, dies at 67
- Aug 2 Joseph Thomson, Scottish geologist and early African explorer (Thomson's Gazelle), dies of pneumonia at 37
- Aug 5 Friedrich English, German textile manufacturer/marxist, dies
- Aug 5 Freidrich Engels, German social philosopher (Communism), dies at 74
- Aug 13 Christian B Freiherr von Tauchnitz, German publisher (T Edition), dies
- Aug 19 John Wesley Hardin, American gunfighter (b. 1853)
- Aug 24 John F Loudon, entrepreneur/colonial director, dies at 74
- Sep 8 Adam Opel, German manufacturer (motorcars), dies at 58
- Sep 14 Alfred Verwee, Flemish painter, dies at 57
- Sep 17 Auguste Toulet, Belgian balloonist, dies
Louis Pasteur
Sep 28 Louis Pasteur, French bacteriologist (invented pasteurization), dies at 72
Louis Pasteur
- Oct 31 Franz Hedrich, Austria writer, dies at about 62
- Nov 29 Eduard count von Taaffe, Austria premier (1868..93), dies at 62
- Dec 5 Chief Gall, Sioux chief (b. 1840)
- Dec 13 Ányos Jedlik, Hungarian physicist (b. 1800)
- Dec 25 Raul Pompeia, Brazilian writer (O Ateneu), dies at 32
- Dec 30 LP Hartley, British writer, dies