Charlemagne (742-814 AD)
1st Holy Roman emperor (800-14), dies at 71
- 1061 Duke Spytihněv II of Bohemia (b. 1031)
- 1256 William II, Count of Holland and Zeeland (1234-56), and King of Germany (1248-56), dies in battle against the Frisians at 28
- 1271 Isabella of Aragon, wife of Philip III and Queen consort of France (1270-1), dies of complications from childbirth at 22 or 23
- 1393 Earl of Joigny, burned at royal ball in Paris
- 1443 Robert le Maçon, Chancellor of France
- 1528 Philips of Cleve, ruler of Ravenstein, dies
Henry VIII (1491-1547)
King of England (1509-47) who separated the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church, dies at 55
Francis Drake (c. 1540-1596)
English pirate, Admiral and Governor of Newfoundland (Porto Bello West Indies), dies of dysentery at 50
- 1606 Carolus Gallus [Karel de Haan], Dutch lawyer, pastor and vicar, dies at 85
- 1612 Thomas Bodley, diplomat/founder (Bodleian Library), dies
- 1621 Pope Paul V [Camillo Borghese], 233rd pope (1605-21) and persecutor of Galileo, dies at 68
- 1672 Pierre Séguier, Chancellor of France, dies at 83
- 1681 Richard Allestree, English royalist churchman (b. 1619)
- 1687 Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer ((created Atlas of the Moon, Catalogue of over 1500), dies on 76th birthday
- 1697 John Fenwick, English conspirator
- 1754 Ludvig Holberg, Baron of Holberg, founder of modern Danish and Norwegian literature, dies at 69
- 1782 Jean-Baptiste-Bourguignon d'Anville, French geographer and cartographer, dies at 84
- 1810 Andrew Hofer, Tyrolian rebel against French & Bavarians, shot dead
- 1829 Thomas Tredgold, British civil engineer (railway design), carpenter, and writer (Elementary Principles of Carpentry, dies at 40
- 1829 William Burke, murderer/body snatcher, executed in Edinburgh
- 1832 Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general (b. 1769)
- 1838 Aleksandr Polezhayev, Russian poet (Sasjka), dies at 33 [OS 16 Jan]
- 1859 F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1827-28), dies at 76
- 1859 William H. Prescott, American historian, dies at 62
- 1864 Émile Clapeyron, French engineer and physicist (b. 1799)
- 1867 John J. Pettus, American politician, Confederate governor (D-Miss, 1859-63), dies at 53
- 1868 Adalbert Stifter, Austrian author (Witiko), commits suicide at 62
- 1890 Prudence Crandall, American educator and founder of School for "young ladies of colour", dies at 86
- 1893 Samuel S. Carroll, American Brigadier General (Union Army), dies at 60
- 1895 François Certain Canrobert, French marshal and parliament member, dies at 85
- 1908 Sidney Paget, British illustrator (Sherlock Holmes), dies at 47
- 1912 Gustave de Molinari, Belgian economist (b. 1819)
- 1915 Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist and mathematician known for discovering the Umov-Poynting vector and Umov effect, dies at 68
John McCrae (1872-1918)
Canadian physician, soldier and poet (In Flanders Fields), dies of pneumonia at 45
- 1924 Simon Abramsz, Dutch teacher and writer (For the Young Ones), dies at 56
- 1926 Kaufmann Kohler, German-born American reform rabbi and theologian, dies at 82
- 1936 Richard Loeb, American Murder, killed Bobby Franks along with Nathan Leopold, killed in prison at 30
- 1939 W. B. Yeats, Irish poet (Wild Swans at Coole-Nobel 1923), dies at 73
- 1950 Nikolai Luzin, Russian mathematician, dies at 66
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (1867-1951)
Finnish general and 6th President of Finland (1944-46), dies at 83
- 1953 Derek Bentley, Englishman controversially convicted for murder of a police officer (pardoned 1998), executed at 19
- 1953 James Scullin, Australian Labour Party politician and 9th Prime Minister of Australia, dies at 76
- 1957 Fred Stein, TV panelist (Live Begins at 80), dies at 88
- 1959 Joseph Sprinzak, Speaker of Israel Knesset (1949-59), dies at 73
- 1960 Zora Neale Hurston, American author, dies at 69
- 1963 Jean Felix Piccard, Swiss scientist, explorer and balloonist (1st flight into stratosphere, by balloon), dies on his 79th birthday
- 1965 Maxime Weygand, French general (head of French armed forces during German Invasion of France WWII), dies at 98
- 1971 Donald Winnicott, British psychoanalyst (b. 1896)
- 1972 Adriaan B "Jaap" Wagemaker, Dutch sculptor, dies at 66
- 1972 Dino Buzzati, Italian writer (The Tartar Steppe), dies at 67
- 1975 Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (b. 1887)
- 1979 Eileen Shanahan, Irish poet (The Three Children (Near Clonmel)), dies at 77
- 1983 Frank Forde, 15th Prime Minister of Australia (the shortest-serving prime minister in Australia's history-8 days), dies at 92
- 1986 Christa McAuliffe, American teacher, dies in the Challenger space shuttle disaster at 37
- 1986 Ellison S Onizuka, Hawaii, Mjr USAF/ast, dies in Challenger disaster
- 1986 Francis R Scobee, Wash, USAF/astronaut, dies in Challenger disaster
- 1986 Greg Jarvis - Crew of Space Shuttle Challenger (b. 1944)
- 1986 Judith Arlene Resnik, Akron Oh, astr, dies in Challenger disaster
- 1986 Michael J. Smith, American astronaut (51L-Challenger disaster), dies in Challenger at 40
- 1986 Ronald E McNair, American astronaut and physicist, dies in Challenger disaster at 35
Klaus Fuchs (1911-1988)
German-British atomic physicist and spy for the Soviet Union, dies at 76
- 1992 Nahman Avigad, Israeli archaeologist (Discovering Jerusalem), dies at 86
- 1994 Hermanus P "Piet" Mulder, Dutch journalist (Het Parool), dies at 79
- 1994 William Levitt, builder (Levittown), dies of kidney failure at 86
- 1995 Barrie Wilson, British religious scholar (How Jesus Became Christian), dies at 59
- 1995 George Woodcock, Canadian writer of political biography and history (Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements), dies at 82
- 1995 James P Grant, American director of UNICEF (1980-95), dies at 72
- 1995 Jim Gilbert, British artist and criminal, dies at 61
- 1995 Philip Burton, Welsh theater director, acting teacher and mentor to Richard Burton, dies at 90
- 1995 Walter Ernest Allen, writer/critic, dies at 83
- 1996 Dan Duva, American boxing promoter and producer (Howard Stern New Years Party), dies at 44
- 1996 Jerry Siegel, American comic book writer (co-creator, with Joe Shuster, of "Superman"), dies of a heart attack at 81
- 1996 John Mosely, recording expert/entrepreneur, dies at 81
- 1996 Joseph Brodsky, Russian-American poet and writer (Less than One, Nobel 1987), dies at 55
- 1996 San Yu, Burmese General and the 5th President of Burma (1981-88), dies at 77
- 1996 Victor "Toby" Neuberg, teacher/writer, dies at 71
- 1997 Colin Welch, British political journalist and critic of Enid Blyton's Noddy series, dies at 72
- 1997 Pietro Cavallero, bandit, dies at 68
- 1997 Vivien Signy, nurse, dies at 80
- 1998 Colin Sanders, British computer engineer (Solid State Logic), dies in a helicopter crash at 50
- 1999 Markey Robinson, Irish painter (b. 1918)
- 1999 Torgny T:son Segerstedt, Swedish sociologist and philosopher (b. 1908)
- 2002 Astrid Lindgren, Swedish children book author (Pippi Longstocking), dies at 94
- 2004 Don Cholito, Puerto Rican radio host (b. 1923)
- 2004 Lloyd M. Bucher, U.S. Navy officer (b. 1927)
- 2006 Yitzchak Kaduri, rabbi (b. around 1900)
- 2007 Emma Tillman, the world's oldest living person from January 24-28, 2007 (b. 1892)
- 2007 Father Robert Drinan, Roman Catholic Priest and American politician (b. 1920)
- 2007 Sterling Lanier, American writer (Hiero's Journey), dies at 79
- 2008 Bengt Lindström, Swedish artist, dies at 82
- 2008 Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece (b. 1939)
- 2014 Fernand Leduc, Canadian abstract expressionist painter (Les Automatistes), and teacher, dies of cancer at 97
- 2019 Kim Bok-dong, Korean sex slave activist, dies at 92
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide