Constantine the Great (272-337 AD)
Emperor of Rome (306-37) who adopted Christianity, dies at 47
- 748 Empress Genshō of Japan (b. 680)
- 987 Louis V le Faineant, the Lazy, King of France (986-87), poisoned at 20
- 1068 Emperor Go-Reizei of Japan, 70th Emperor of Japan, dies at 42
- 1455 Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, English commander (killed in battle) (b. 1406)
- 1455 Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, English politician (killed in battle)
- 1457 Saint Rita of Cascia, Italian saint (b. 1381)
- 1501 Robert Gaguin, French writer/diplomat (Arte Metrificandi), dies at 66
- 1538 John Forrest, English Franciscan friar (martyred) (b. 1471)
- 1540 Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian/President of Romagna, dies at 57
- 1666 Gaspar Schott, German scientist (b. 1608)
Alexander VII (1599-1667)
Italian Pope (1655-67), dies at 68
- 1688 Johannes Andreas Quenstedt, German Lutheran theologian, dies at 70
- 1745 François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French military leader (b. 1671)
- 1746 Thomas Southerne, Irish dramatist (b. 1660)
- 1760 Israel ben Eliezer, Polish-born mystical rabbi (b. 1700)
- 1772 Durastante Natalucci, Italian historian (specialized in history of Trevi, in Umbria), dies at 84
Martha Washington (1731-1802)
1st US First Lady (1789-97), dies at 70
- 1819 Jan Hendrik van Kinsbergen, Dutch naval officer and founder of Dutch Marines Corp, dies at 84
- 1851 Mordecai Manuel Noah, American writer, journalist (b. 1755)
- 1859 Ferdinand II, King of the Two Sicilies (1830-59), dies at 49
- 1868 Julius Plucker, German mathematician/physicist (formula of P), dies
- 1880 Heinrich von Gagern, German liberal politician, dies at 80
- 1884 William T. Wofford, Brigadier General (Confederate Army-American Civil War), dies at 59
Victor Hugo (1802-1885)
French author (Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Miserables), dies at 83
John French (1852-1925)
1st Earl of Ypres and British WWI field marshal, dies at 72
- 1928 William HT Gairdner, Engl missionary (Nile Mission Press), dies at 54
- 1932 Augusta, Lady Gregory, Irish playwright (Gold Apple) and patron of Yeats, dies at 80
- 1939 Ernst Toller, German playwright, commits suicide at 45
- 1939 Jiri Mahen, Czech author (b. 1882)
- 1943 Helen Herron Taft, American First lady (1909-13) wife of President William Howard Taft, planted Washington's cherry trees, dies at 81
- 1945 Carel Adolph Lion Cachet, Dutch lithographer and wood carver, dies at 80
- 1948 Claude McKaye, Jamaican-American author (Banjo, Home to Harlem), dies at 57
- 1949 Klaus H T Mann, German/American writer (Turning Point), dies
- 1965 Christopher Stone, first disc jockey in the United Kingdom (b. 1882)
- 1965 Heinrich Barth, Swiss philosopher (Das Sein in der Zeit), dies
- 1967 Josip Plemelj, Slovenian mathematician, dies at 93
- 1970 Joseph W Krutch, American writer (Measure of Man), dies at 76
- 1972 Cecil Day-Lewis, Irish poet (British Poet Laureate 1968-72) and detective writer (Nicholas Blake), dies of cancer at 68
- 1977 Gijs van Hall, Dutch politician and Mayor of Amsterdam (1957-67), dies at 73
- 1988 Giorgio Almirante, Italian fascist (member of parliament (1948-87)), dies at 73
- 1992 Zellig S. Harris, Russian-American linguist, dies at 82
- 1994 F. H. McClintock, British criminologist, dies at 68
- 1994 Mitacq [Michel Tacq], Belgium comic strip artist (Beaver Patrol), dies
- 1996 Duncan Montgomery Stewart, academic, dies at 66
- 1996 Rex Collings, writer/publisher, dies at 70
- 1997 A. D. Hershey, American biologist, worked with bacteriophages (Nobel 1969), dies at 88
- 1998 José Enrique Moyal, mathematical physicist (b. 1910)
- 1999 Alfred Kubel, German politician, dies at 89
- 2002 Curnick Muzuvukile Ndlovu, South Africian worker's union leader, and African National Congress Leader, dies at 70
- 2003 Ousmane Zongo, Burkinabé shooting victim
- 2005 Charilaos Florakis, Greek politician, long-time General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (b. 1914)
- 2005 Julia Randall, American poet (b. 1924)
- 2006 Heather Crowe, Canadian activist (b. 1945)
- 2006 Lee Jong-wook, Korean Director-General of the World Health Organization, dies of stroke at 61
- 2008 Robert Asprin, American author (b. 1946)
- 2012 Wesley Brown, 1st African American US Naval Academy graduate, dies at 85
- 2013 Fusilier Lee Rigby, British Army soldier, murdered near the Royal Artillery Barracks in London by two Islamic terrorists, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale
- 2014 Mathew Cowles, American actor, dies at 69
- 2015 John Horlock, British vice-chancellor (Open College), dies at 87
- 2019 Judith Kerr, British children's writer and illustrator (The Tiger Who Came to Tea, Mog books), dies at 95
- 2019 Sultan Ahmad Shah, 7th King of Malaysia (1979-84), dies at 88
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide