- Jan 3 Saint Damien, [Joseph de Veuster], Belgian priest and missionary who helped lepers in Hawaii, born in Tremelo, Belgium (d. 1889)
- Jan 5 John Doby Kennedy, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Camden, South Carolina (d. 1896)
- Jan 10 Louis Nazaire Bégin, French Canadian archbishop and cardinal, born in Lévis, Canada (d. 1925)
- Jan 18 Austin Dobson, English poet, critic and biographer, born in Plymouth, England (d. 1921)
- Jan 18 Ernst Rudorff, German pianist, composer, and teacher, born in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1916)
- Jan 21 Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake, English physician and feminist who was one of the first female medical students at a British university, born in Hastings, England (d. 1912)
- Jan 22 Ernest Roland Wilberforce, English bishop (d. 1907)
- Jan 23 Ernst Abbe, German physicist and optical scientist (Carl Zeiss Optics Company), born in Eisenach, Germany (d. 1905)
- Feb 2 Louis Bourgault-Ducoudray, French Breton composer, born in Nantes, Frances (d. 1910)
- Feb 3 Georges Jacobi, German violinist, composer (The Black Crook), and conductor (Alhambra Theatre, London, 1872-98), born in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1906)
- Feb 5 Hiram Maxim, American-British inventor (Maxim gun, 1st automatic machine gun), born in Sangerville, Maine (d. 1916)
- Feb 5 John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish vet and inventor (pneumatic rubber tire), born in Dreghorn, Scotland (d. 1888)
- Feb 11 Sanuel Dana Greene, Lt Cmdr (Union Navy), (d. 1884)
- Feb 22 August Bebel, German socialist politician (one of the founders of the Social Democratic Worker's Party of Germany), born in Deutz (d. 1913)
- Feb 23 Carl Menger, Austrian economist (marginal utility theory, subjective theory of value), born in Neu-Sandez in Galicia, Austrian Empire (d. 1921)
- Feb 25 Alexis Hollander, German composer, born in Ratibor, Silesia (now Racibórz, Poland) (d. 1924)
- Feb 25 Otto Liebmann, German philosopher (Climax of Theories), born in Löwenberg, Silesia (d. 1912)
- Feb 28 Henri Duveyrier, French explorer of the Sahara, born in Paris, France (d. 1892)
John Philip Holland (1840-1914)
Feb 29 Irish engineer and father of the modern submarine, born in Liscannor, Ireland
- Feb 29 William Harvey Carney, American Civil War soldier (first African-American to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor), born in Norfolk, Virginia (d. 1908)
Chief Joseph (1840-1904)
Mar 3 Nez Perce leader who tried to led his people to Canada (Nez Perce War), born in Wallowa Valley, Nez Perce territory (claimed as Oregon Country) [1]
- Mar 5 Constance Fenimore Woolson, American writer (Jupiter Lights), born in Claremont, New Hampshire (d. 1894)
- Mar 8 Franco Faccio, Italian composer and conductor, born in Verona, Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, Austrian Empire (d. 1891)
- Mar 11 Edmund Kirby Jr, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Brownville, New York (d. 1863)
- Mar 16 Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (d. 1931)
- Mar 18 William Cosmo Monkhouse, English poet and critic (d. 1901)
- Mar 20 Franz Mertens, Polish mathematician, born in Schroda, Grand Duchy of Posen, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1927)
- Mar 20 Illarion Pryanishnikov, Russian painter (d. 1894)
- Mar 25 Myles Keogh, U.S. Soldier in U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment & Irish Soldier of Fortune (d. 1876)
- Mar 26 Carli Zoeller, German composer, born in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1889)
- Mar 26 George Smith, English archaeologist and assyriologist (cuneiform script), born in London (d. 1876)
- Mar 28 Emin Pasha, German explorer and governor (Equatoria), born in Oppeln, Silesia (d. 1892)
- Mar 29 Matteo Albertone, Italian general who fought in the Italo-Ethiopian War, born in Alessandria (d. 1919)
Benjamin Baker (1840-1907)
Mar 31 English civil engineer who designed the bridge over the Firth of Forth, Scotland and the London underground, born in Frome, England
- Mar 31 John Herbert Kelly, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), (d. 1864)
Émile Zola (1840-1902)
Apr 2 French novelist and critic (J'accuse - I Accuse), born in Paris, France
- Apr 11 John Conrad Nordqvist, Swedish composer, born in Vänersborg, Älvsborg County, Sweden (d. 1920)
- Apr 12 Edmond Audran, French composer, born in Lyon, France (d. 1901)
- Apr 12 Franz Xaver Haberl, German priest and musicologist (Magister choralis), born in Mallersdorf-Pfaffenberg, Kingdom of Bavaria (d. 1910)
- Apr 20 Odilon Redon [Bertrand-Jean Redon], French symbolist painter, born in Bordeaux (d. 1916)
- Apr 25 James Dearing, U.S. Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Campbell County, Virginia (d. 1865)
- Apr 27 Edward Whymper, English mountaineer, 1st to climb Matterhorn (1865), born in London (d. 1911)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
May 7 Russian composer of the late-Romantic period (1812 Overture; The Nutcracker; Swan Lake), born in Votkinsk, Russia
Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897)
May 13 French writer (Tartarin of Tarascon), born in Nîmes, France
- May 24 Frederick Walker, British social realist painter, born in London (d. 1875)
- May 28 Hans Makart, Austrian painter (Plague in Florenz), born in Salzburg, Austria (d. 1884)
- Jun 2 Thomas Hardy, poet and novelist (Far from the Madding Crowd), born in Higher Bockhampton, Dorset (d. 1928)
- Jun 3 Eugeen van Oye, Flemish writer and poet (Morning Twilight), born in Torhout, Flanders (d. 1926)
- Jun 6 John Stainer, English organist, composer (The Crucifixion), musicologist, and educator, born in Southwark, London (d. 1901)
- Jun 6 William Francis Bartlett, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Haverhill, Massachusetts (d. 1876)
- Jun 7 Carlota of Mexico, princess of Belgium and empress consort of Mexico (1864-67), born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1927)
- Jun 10 Theodor Philipsen, Danish painter, born in Copenhagen (d. 1920)
- Jun 10 Thomas F. Toon, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Columbus County, North Carolina (d. 1902)
- Jun 11 Henri Braekeleer, Flemish painter, born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 1888)
- Jun 16 Ernst Otto Schlick, German engineer (d. 1913)
- Jun 22 Ernst Debes, German cartographer (Baedeker), and namesake of a lunar crater, born in Neukirchen, Saxony, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1923)
- Jun 24 Louis Brassin, Belgian composer and pianist, born in Aix-la-Chapelle (d. 1884)
- Jul 1 Robert Stawell Ball, Irish mathematician and astronomer (Ball Screw), born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 1913)
- Jul 4 James McGranahan, American composer, born in Adamsville, Pennsylvania (d. 1907)
- Jul 12 Abraham Goldfaden, Russian-born Jewish poet and playwright (Shulamis), born in Starokostiantyniv, Russian Empire (d. 1908)
- Jul 25 Flora Adams Darling, American writer and historian, founded Daughters of American Revolution, born in Lancaster, New Hampshire (d. 1910)
- Jul 27 Ranald Slidell Mackenzie, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Westchester County, New York (d. 1889)
- Aug 1 Aldine Silliman Kieffer, American composer, born in Miami, Missouri (d. 1904)
- Aug 14 Richard von Krafft-Ebing, Austro–German psychiatrist and author (Psychopathia Sexualis), born in Mannheim, Duchy of Baden, German Confederation (d. 1902)
- Aug 17 Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, English writer (Irish Land League), traveller and Arabian stud founder, born in Petworth, England (d. 1922)
- Aug 28 Alexander Cameron Sim, Scottish merchant, born in Aberlour, Scotland (d. 1900)
- Aug 28 Ira D. Sankey, American evangelist, composer and singer (Gospel hymns), born in Edinburg, Pennsylvania (d. 1908)
- Sep 2 Giovanni Verga, Italian writer (Eros), born in Catania, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (d. 1922)
- Sep 3 Jacob Christian Fabricius, Danish composer, born in Aarhus, Denmark (d. 1919)
- Sep 9 Gentil Theodoor Antheunis, Flemish poet and songwriter, born in Oudenaarde, Belgium (d. 1907)
- Sep 14 George Elbridge Whiting, American composer, born in Holliston, Massachusetts (d. 1923)
- Sep 21 Murad V, 33rd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1876), born in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire (d. 1904)
- Sep 26 Louis-Olivier Taillon, French Canadian politician, born in Terrebonne, Lower Canada (d. 1923)
- Sep 27 Alfred Thayer Mahan, American naval officer (Influence of Sea Power), born in West Point, New York (d. 1914)
Thomas Nast (1840-1902)
Sep 27 German-American caricaturist and political cartoonist of late 1800s America, born in Landau, Germany
- Sep 28 Rudolf Baumbach, German writer of student drinking songs, born in Kranichfeld, Germany (d. 1905)
- Sep 28 Sandie [Alexander Swift] Pendleton, American Lieutenant Colonel (Confederate Army), born in Alexandria, Virginia (d. 1864)
- Sep 30 Johan Svendsen, Norwegian composer, born in Christiania, Norway (d. 1911)
- Oct 4 Charles Lenepveu, French composer, born in Rouen, France (d. 1910)
- Oct 5 Fran Gerbič, Slovenian composer and tenor, born in Cerknica (d. 1917)
- Oct 5 John Addington Symonds, British historian and writer (Probs in Greek Ethics), born in Bristol, England (d. 1893)
- Oct 9 Simeon Solomon, English Pre-Raphaelite painter, born in London, England (d. 1905)
- Oct 12 Helena Modjeska [Modrzejewska], Polish Shakespearian actress (Hamlet), born in Kraków, Poland (d. 1909)
- Oct 15 Honoré Mercier, Canadian politician and 9th Premier of Quebec (1887-91), born in Saint-Athanase, Lower Canada (d. 1894)
- Oct 17 Yaa Asantewaa, Ghanaian queen of Ashanti Empire, led fight against British colonialism, born in Besease, Ghana (d. 1921) appropriate date
- Oct 30 Carlotta Patti, Italian soprano, born in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany (now Italy) (d. 1889)
- Oct 30 William Graham Sumner, American sociologist (Folkways), born in Paterson, New Jersey (d. 1910)
- Oct 31 Franz Müller, German tailor and first train murderer (killing Thomas Briggs) (d. 1864)
- Nov 9 Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau, French Canadian lawyer and politician, born in Sainte-Thérèse, Canada (d. 1898)
- Nov 9 Kuroda Kiyotaka, Japanese diplomat and politician (2nd Prime Minister of Japan, 1888-1889; President of the Privy Council, 1894-90), born in Kagoshima, Satsuma Domain (d. 1900)
Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
Nov 12 French sculptor (Kiss, Thinker), born in Paris, France
Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Nov 14 French impressionist painter (Water Lilies, Haystacks, Poplars), born in Paris, France
- Nov 15 Aleksey Apukhtin, Russian poet and friend of Tsjaikovski, born in Bolkhov, Russian Empire (d. 1893) [NS=11/27]
- Nov 16 Frederick Scotson Clark, English organist and composer, born in Southwark, London (d. 1883)
- Nov 19 Aleksandr Kovalevsky, Russian biologist (founded comparative embryology and experimental histology and identified a common pattern of embryological development in all multi-cellular animals), born in Shustyanka, Dvinsk, Russia (d. 1901)
- Nov 21 Victoria, Empress of Germany and Queen of Prussia by marriage to German Emperor Frederick III, born in Buckingham Palace, London (d. 1901)
- Nov 25 Hugo Verriest, Flemish author and poet (Flemish Movement), born in Deerlijk, Belgium (d. 1922)
- Nov 27 Aleksey Apukhtin, Russian poet and friend of Tsjaikovski, born in Bolkhov, Russian Empire (d. 1893) [OS=11/15]
- Nov 30 Henry Birks, Canadian businessman and founder of Henri Birks and Sons, born in Montreal, Lower Canada (d. 1928)
Crazy Horse (1840-1877)
Dec 4 Oglala Sioux chief (Battle of the Little Bighorn), born in Fort Robinson, Nebraska
- Dec 7 Hermann Goetz, German composer, born in Königsberg, East Prussia (d. 1876)
- Dec 11 Namık Kemal, Turkish poet and author (Fatherland-1872), born in Tekirdağ, Ottoman Empire (d. 1888)
- Dec 17 C. F. E. Horneman, Danish composer, born in Copenhagen (d. 1906)
- Dec 21 Namık Kemal, Turkish journalist and political activist (Young Ottomans), born in Tekirdağ, Ottoman Empire (d. 1888)
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