Walter Raleigh (c. 1552-1618)
English scholar, poet, historian and explorer, beheaded for treason at about 64
Jean-Baptiste Le Rond d'Alembert (1717-1783)
French Enlightenment philosopher and mathematician (Encyclopédie), dies at 66
- 1790 Pieter van Bleiswijk, Grand pensionary of Holland 1771-87, dies at about 66
- 1804 George Morland, English artist of rural landscapes, dies at 41
- 1822 Dirk van Hogendorp, Dutch minister of War, dies at 61
- 1846 Jean Louis van Aelbroeck, Flemish agronomist, dies at 90
- 1856 Carel Sirardus Willem van Hogendorp, Dutch colonial director, dies at 68
- 1873 Ernest-Aimé Feydeau, French author (Fanny), dies at 52
- 1873 John of Saxony, King of Saxony (1854-73), dies at 71
- 1873 Leonardus Lightenvelt, Dutch politician, dies at 78
Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877)
American slave trader, Confederate lieutenant general and KKK Grand Wizard, dies of complications from diabetes at 56
George McClellan (1826-1885)
American Major General (Union Army), dies of a heart attack at 58
- 1885 James Hannington, English missionary, murdered in Uganda
- 1892 William Harnett, Irish-American painter (Old Cupboard Door), dies at 44
- 1901 Leon Czolgosz, American anarchist and assassin of President McKinley, is electrocuted after being sentenced to death at 28
- 1905 Hendrik Witbooi, Nama chief (modern Namibia) who resisted German colonial control (pioneered ideas of Pan-Africanism), dies fighting (born ca. 1835) [1]
Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911)
Hungarian-American publisher (St Louis Post-Dispatch, NY World) and Democratic politician whose bequest founded the Columbia School of Journalism and the Pulitzer Prize, dies at 64
- 1919 A. B. Simpson, Canadian preacher (b. 1843)
- 1919 Soen Shaku, Zen abbot of Engakuji monastery in Kamakura, dies at 60
- 1924 Frances Hodgson Burnett, British-American playwright and children's author ("The Secret Garden"; "Little Lord Fauntleroy"), dies at 74
- 1927 Leonard Nelson, German philosopher (Nelson-Friessche Schule), dies at 45
- 1932 Joseph Babinski, Polish-French neurologist (Babinski reflex), dies at 74
- 1933 Albert Calmette, French physician, bacteriologist and immunologist (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin), dies at 70
- 1933 Paul Painlevé, French Prime Minister (1917, 1925), dies at 69
- 1936 Ramiro de Maeztu, Spanish writer (Don Quixote & Celestine), dies at 61
- 1939 Dwight B. Waldo, American educator (first President of Western Michigan University), dies at 75
- 1945 Hans Erich Blaich [Dr. Owlglass], German writer (Simplicissimus), dies at 72
- 1947 Frances Cleveland, American First Lady (1885-89 93-97), wife of Grover Cleveland dies at 83
- 1949 G. I. Gurdjieff, Armenian mystic (b. 1872)
- 1950 Gustav V, King of Sweden (1907-1950), dies at 92
- 1951 Jean De Raymond, French High Director of Cambodia, assassinated by a Viet-Minh agent (b. 1907)
- 1951 Robert Grant Aitken, American astronomer (New General Catalogue), dies at 86
- 1957 Rosemarie Nitribitt, German call girl, strangled in her apartment in an unsolved murder at 24
- 1958 Zoe Akins, American playwright (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 1935), dies at 71
- 1965 Mehdi Am Barka, Moroccan socialist leader, murdered in Paris
- 1974 Victor E. van Vriesland, Dutch poet (Mirror of Dutch Poetry), dies at 82
- 1981 William O. Walker, American publisher of Cleveland Call Post, dies at 85
- 1986 Sem Presser, Dutch press photographer, dies at 68
- 1987 Kamal El Mallakh, Egyptian archaeologist (King Khufu Solar ship), and journalist, dies at 57
- 1990 William French Smith, American lawyer, US Attorney General (1980-5), dies at 73 of cancer
- 1991 Donald Churchill, playwright, dies of a heart attack at 60
- 1991 Harry Thomas, founder (Flower Festival, Dutch Homofielen Party), dies
- 1991 Mario Scelba, Prime Minister of Italia (1954-55), dies
- 1992 Adrienne Canivez, wife of Victor of Vriesland, dies
- 1992 Kenneth MacMillan, British choreographer (Manon, Judas Tree), dies
- 1993 Raymond Lockhart, TV director (Huntley Brinkley Report), dies at 65
- 1994 Andrew Miller-Jones, British TV pioneer (Picture Page; Dressing Up), dies at 84
- 1996 J. Edward Day, 55th U.S. Postmaster General (1961), dies at 82
- 1996 Patrick Johnson, English physicist, dies at 92
- 1997 Anton LaVey, American founder of the Church of Satan, dies at 67
- 1999 Greg [Michel Régnier], Belgian comic-book writer and artist (Achille Talon), dies at 68
- 2003 Hal Clement [Harry Clement Stubbs], American sci-fi writer (Mission of Gravity), dies at 81
- 2004 Alice, British Princess and Duchess of Gloucester, aunt of Elizabeth II, dies at 102
- 2004 Edward Oliver LeBlanc, Dominican politician, dies at 81
- 2004 Peter Twinn, English mathematician (b. 1916)
- 2006 Muhammadu Maccido, 19th Sultan of Sokoto (1996-2006) in Nigeria, dies at 78 in the plane crash of ADC Airlines Flight 53
- 2011 Jimmy Savile, British entertainer and suspected sexual predator, dies at 84
- 2015 Murphy Anderson, American comic artist (DC Comics), dies at 89
- 2016 John D. Roberts, American chemist, received American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal (2013), dies at 98
- 2016 Pen Sovann, 1st post-Khmer Rouge Cambodian Prime Minister (1981), dies at 80
- 2017 Dennis Banks, American activist (leader of the American Indian Movement), dies at 80
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning