- 395 Theodosius I, "the Great", Spanish-born Emperor of Rome, last emperor to rule the east and west empire, dies at 49
- 1119 Boudouin VII Hapkin, count of Flanders, dies
- 1229 Albert, Bishop of Riga/Albert of Buxhoeveden, founder of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, dies at about 68
- 1318 Erwin Steinbach, German architect (Strasbourg Cathedral), dies (b. c. 1244)
- 1369 Peter I of Cyprus, King of Cyprus (1358-69), murdered at 40
- 1468 Skanderbeg, Albanian leader (b. 1405)
- 1588 Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (Ming Dynasty general who led defense against Wokou pirates and the Great Wall), dies at 59
- 1598 Fyodor I Tsar of Russia (b. 1557)
- 1617 Faust Vrančić, Croatian inventor (b. 1551)
- 1617 Pieter C. Bockenberg, Dutch historian, dies at 68
- 1620 Diego Alvarez de Paz, Span missionary/writer (Peru), dies at about 59
- 1654 Paul Potter, Dutch painter, buried
- 1661 Andres Malong, Philippines rebel leader, executed
- 1702 Thomas Franklin, English smith/uncle of B Franklin, dies [OS=Jan 6]
- 1705 John Ray, English naturalist (b. 1627)
- 1718 Captain Benjamin Church, Plymouth Colony settler and military leader
- 1736 Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect, dies at 73
- 1781 Marie de Negre Dables, marquess, dies
- 1805 Abraham-Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron, French scholar and interpreter, dies at 73
- 1820 Daniel Albert Wyttenbach, German-Swiss classicl scholar and historian, dies at 73
- 1823 Zacharius Werner, German playwright, dies at 36
- 1830 W Waiblinger, writer, dies
- 1833 James Ball Antyne, Scot founder (Ball Antyne Press), dies at about 60
- 1833 William Rush, American sculptor (Spirit of the Schuylkill), dies at 76
- 1834 Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist, dies at 71
- 1851 Thomas Lincoln, American farmer, carpenter, and father President Abraham Lincoln, dies at 73
- 1861 Lola Montez, Irish-born adventurer (b. 1821)
- 1863 Horace Vernet, French painter of battles and Orientalist subjects, dies at 73
- 1870 Alexander Anderson, American engraver and illustrator (Shakespeare), dies at 94
- 1874 Chang & Eng Bunker, Chinese/Thai Siamese twins, die at 62
- 1884 Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist, dies at 79
- 1887 William Giblin, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1840)
- 1889 Juan Montalvo, Ecuadorian author (Siete Tratados), dies at 56
George Bancroft (1800-1891)
American historian (History of the United States), dies at 90
Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893)
19th US President (Republican: 1877-81), dies of a heart attack at 70
- 1899 Jedediah Hotchkiss, American topographer and cartographer, dies at 70
- 1901 Jacob G Agarah, Swedish algologist, dies at 87
- 1902 Gideon Scheepers, South Africa Boer leader, executed
- 1903 Ignaz Wechselmann, Hungarian architect and philanthropist (b. 1828)
- 1908 Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany, dies at 72
- 1909 Sir Francis Smith, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1819
- 1910 Wilhelm F Kohlrausch, German physicist (Additiviteitsregel), dies at 69
- 1911 Francis Galton, British anthropologist and geneticist (eugenics), dies at 88
- 1917 Hendrik Goeman Borgesius, Dutch politician, dies at 70
Juliette Gordon Low (1860-1927)
American activist and founder of the Girl Scouts of America, dies of breast cancer at 66
- 1928 William Corless Mills, American museum curator (excavated Ohio Indian mounds), dies at 68
- 1932 Albert Jacka, VC, Australian soldier (b. 1893)
- 1933 Louis Comfort Tiffany, American artist and designer (b. 1848)
- 1936 Mateiu Caragiale, Romanian author (b. 1885)
- 1938 William Pickering, American astronomer (predicted Pluto), dies at 79
- 1941 Jose Leite de Vasconcelos, Portuguese scholar (Etnografia), dies at 82
- 1942 Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal, dies at 57
- 1947 Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve, French cardinal and Archbishop of Quebec, dies at 63
- 1947 Pyotr Krasnov, Russian counter-revolutionary (b. 1869)
- 1955 Reneke de Marees van Swinderen, Dutch minister (1908-13), dies at 94
- 1962 Gerrit Achterberg, Dutch poet (Dead End), dies at 56
T. H. White (1906-1964)
English novelist (England Have My Bones) and author of the King Arthur novels, dies of heart failure at 57
- 1965 Hans Marchwitza, German writer and communist, dies at 75
- 1966 Vincent J Donehue, director (Lonelyhearts), dies of Hodgkin's at 50
- 1968 Julis Deutsch, Austria politician/general Spanish rep army, dies at 83
- 1972 Betty Smith, American novelist (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), dies at 75
- 1977 Gary Gilmore, American murderer executed in Utah at 36, 1st US execution since 1967
- 1987 Raymond Scheyven, Belgian minister of Economic Affairs, dies at 75
- 1989 Sterling A Brown, American poet/critic (Southern Road), dies at 87
- 1990 Anna Arnold Hedgeman, African-American social activist (NYC cabinet), dies at 90
- 1990 Charles Hernu, French minister of Defense (1981-85), dies
- 1991 Olav V, King of Norway (1957-91), dies at 87
- 1993 Albert Hourani, English historian (b. 1915)
- 1994 Allan Gilbert Odell, American Ad exec (Burma Shave), dies at 90
- 1994 Chung Il Kwon, Prime Minister of South Korea (1964-70), dies
- 1994 Han Jansen, Dutch journalist (Volkskrant), dies at 61
- 1994 Yevgeny Ivanov, Soviet spy involved in the Profumo affair (b. 1926)
- 1995 Isador Caplan, British lawyer and Aldeburgh Festival pioneer, dies at 82
- 1995 Urias Nooteboom, Dutch journalist/critic (The Time), dies at 54
- 1996 Amber Hagerman, American namesake of the Amber Alert system (b. 1986)
- 1996 Barbara Charline Jordan, politician, dies at 59
- 1996 Charles Henry Madge, English poet and founder of Mass-Observation, dies at 83
- 1996 Giles Playfair, English writer, dies at 85
- 1996 John Adrian Hope, politician/businessman, dies at 83
- 1997 Amha Selassie, Crown prince of Ethiopia and son of emperor Haile Selassi, dies at 82
- 1997 Andrea Fisher, American artist, dies at 41
- 1997 Bert Kelly, Australian politician (b. 1912)
- 1997 Clyde William Tombaugh, discoverer (Pluto), dies at 90
- 1999 Robert Eads, American transsexual (b. 1945)
- 2001 Gregory Corso, American beat poet, dies of prostate cancer at 70
- 2002 Bishop Karas, Sudanese-born American religious leader (b. 1955)
- 2002 Camilo Jose Cela, Spanish writer, (Nobel Prize laureate 1989), dies at 85
- 2005 Albert Schatz, American microbiologist (b. 1920)
- 2005 Charlie Bell, Australian fast food executive (b. 1960)
- 2005 Zhao Ziyang, Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1919)
- 2006 Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (b. 1930)
- 2006 Pierre Grondin, French Canadian cardiac surgeon (b. 1925)
- 2007 Yevhen Kushnaryov, Ukrainian politician (b. 1951)
- 2009 Anders Isaksson, Swedish journalist, writer, and historian (b. 1943)
- 2010 Daisuke Gouri, Japanese seiyu (b. 1952)
- 2010 Erich Segal, American author (Love Story, Oliver's Story), dies at 72
- 2010 Jyoti Basu, Indian Communist politician, dies at 95