- Feb 2 Jules François Blasini, Curaçaon-Corsican pianist and composer, born in Dutch Colony of Curaçao (d. 1887)
- Feb 7 Ernst Franck, German composer and conductor, born in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria (d. 1889)
- Feb 8 Hugh Price Hughes, Welsh social reformer, born in Carmarthen, Wales (d. 1902)
- Feb 10 A. N. Hornby, English cricket batsman and captain (3 Tests; Lancashire CCC) and rugby union utility back & captain (9 Tests; Lancashire CRFC), born in Blackburn, England (d. 1925)
Thomas Edison (1847-1931)
Feb 11 American inventor (lightbulb, phonograph, motion picture camera), born in Milan, Ohio
- Feb 14 Anna Howard Shaw, American suffragette, born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England (d. 1919)
- Feb 15 Robert Fuchs, Austrian composer, and teacher (Vienna Conservatory, 1875-1912), born in Frauental, Austria (d. 1927)
- Feb 16 (Ludwig) Philipp Scharwenka, German pianist, composer (Sakuntala; Album polonaise), and educator, born in Samter, Grand Duchy of Posen, Kingdom of Prussia (now of Szamotuły, Poland) (d. 1917)
- Feb 25 John Watson, Canadian philosopher (Objective Idealism), born in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 1939)
- Feb 27 Ellen Alice Terry, British Shakespearean actress and director (Imperial Theatre), born in Coventry, Warwickshire, England (d. 1928)