- Jan 2 Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer, German rococo sculptor, dies at 73
- Jan 6 Johann Trier, German composer, dies at 73
- Jan 7 Antonio Corbisiero, Italian Baroque composer, dies at 69
- Jan 8 John Stinstra, Dutch baptist vicar, dies at 81
- Jan 13 Luc Urbain de Bouëxic, comte de Guichen, French admiral, dies at 77
- Jan 15 John Landen, English mathematician (b. 1719)
- Jan 31 Thomas Lewis, Irish-American surveyor, lawyer, and a pioneer of early Virginia, dies at 71
- Feb 5 William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist, dies at 79
- Feb 14 Capel Bond, English composer and organist, dies at 59
- Feb 18 Wilhelm Gottfried Enderle, German composer and violinist, dies at 67
- Feb 19 Jean-Baptiste Krumpholz [Jan Křtitel Krumpholtz], Czech-French harpist and composer, drowns himself over lost love, in the Seine River, at 47
- Feb 20 Joseph II, Emperor of Holy Roman Empire (1760-1790), dies at 48
- Feb 21 Johann Friedrich Klöffler, German composer, dies at 64
- Mar 5 Flora MacDonald, Scottish woman who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie escape, buried in the sheet he slept in at 67 or 68
- Mar 12 Andreas Hadik, Austro-Hungarian general (b. 1710)
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Apr 17 US Founding Father, inventor, ambassador and writer (Poor Richards Almanac), dies at 84
- May 4 Matthew Tilghman, American delegate to the Continental Congress (b. 1718)
- May 9 William Clingan, American delegate to the Continental Congress
- May 16 Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, English politician, dies at 70
- May 21 Thomas Warton, English critic and poet (Pleasures of Melancholy) British Poet Laureate (1785-90), dies at 62
- May 27 Jeremiah Carlton, laziest man in history, heir to a large fortune at 19 went to bed & stayed there for next 70 yrs, dies at 89
- May 29 Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general (b. 1718)
- Jun 8 Charles-Joseph van Helmont, South Netherlands organist and composer, dies at 75
- Jun 29 Feike Van de Crew, Fries writer (Mayke Jakkelis), dies
- Jul 6 George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield, Scottish general (Seven Years' War) and Governor of Gibraltar (1777-90) who commanded the garrison during the Great Siege Gibraltar, dies of palsy/stroke at 72
- Jul 7 Frans Hemsterhuis, Dutch philosopher, dies at 68
- Jul 14 Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon, Austrian field marshal, dies at 73
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Jul 17 Scottish economist (Wealth of Nations) and moral philosopher, dies at 67
- Jul 25 Johann Bernhard Basedow, German educational reformer, dies at 66
- Jul 25 William Livingston, American politician and 1st revolutionary Governor of New Jersey, dies at 66
- Jul 31 Johann Christian Frischmuth, German composer, dies at 48
- Sep 2 Johann Nicholas von Hontheim, German church historian and theologian (febronianism), dies at 89
- Sep 3 Thomas Norris, English composer, dies at 49
- Sep 5 Thomas Norris, English singer and composer, dies at 49
- Sep 24 John Keyse Sherwin, engraver/painter, dies
- Oct 14 William Hooper, American attorney and signer of U.S. Declaration of Independence, dies at 48
- Oct 19 Lyman Hall, American physician and signer (Declaration of Independence), dies at 66
- Oct 29 Pieter van Bleiswijk, Grand pensionary of Holland 1771-87, dies at about 66
- Nov 6 James Bowdoin, American Revolutionary leader and politician, dies at 64
- Nov 16 Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, American Continental Congressman (b. 1723)
- Dec 12 Mikhail Shcherbatov, Russian philosopher and writer, dies at 57
- Dec 16 Ludwig August Lebrun, German composer, dies at 38
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide