- Jan 5 Pierre-Jean David d'Angers], French sculptor (Panthéon in Paris), dies at 67
- Jan 6 Nicolas-Charles Bochsa, French harpist, composer, forger, and bigamist, dies at 66
- Jan 11 Nikolai I Nadezjdin, Russian archaeologist, dies [NS=Jan 23]
- Jan 12 Ľudovít Štúr, Slovak politician and author of Slovak language, dies at 40
- Jan 16 Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (b. 1795)
- Jan 17 Thomas Attwood Walmisley, English organist, composer and educator (Cathedral Music), dies at 41
- Jan 24 Rabbi Yechezkel of Kuzmir, Polish Hasidic leader (b. 1775)
- Jan 31 Khedrup Gyatso, 11th Dalai Lama of Tibet, dies at 17
- Feb 8 Agostino Bassi, Italian entomologist, dies at 82
- Feb 12 Thomas L. Jennings, American tailor and inventor (dry-cleaning), abolitionist, and desegregationist, dies at 64 [1]
- Feb 17 Heinrich Heine, German poet and lyricist (Schubert, Liszt), dies at 58
- Feb 17 John Braham, English tenor singer and composer, dies at 81
- Feb 24 Nikolai Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician (Lobachevskian geometry), dies at 63
- Mar 11 James Beatty, Irish railway engineer (b. 1820)
- Mar 28 Pyotr Ivanovich Turchaninov, Russian church composer, and choirmaster, dies at 76
- Apr 11 Juan Santamaría, national hero of Costa Rica (b. 1831)
- May 3 Adolfo Fumagalli, composer, dies at 27
- May 3 Adolphe Charles Adam, French composer/critic (Giselle), dies at 52
- May 6 William Hamilton, metaphysicist, dies
- May 12 Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician (b. 1786)
- May 22 Jacques-Nicolas-Augustin Thierry, French historian, dies at 61
- Jun 11 Friedrich H von der Hagen, German germanist, dies at 76
- Jun 23 Ivan Kireyevsky, Russian literary critic and philosopher, dies at 50
- Jun 26 Max Stirner [Johann Kaspar Schmidt], German philosopher (Der Einzige), dies at 49
- Jul 4 István Ferenczy, Hungarian sculptor, dies at 64
Amedeo Avogadro (1776-1856)
Jul 9 Italian scientist who contributed to molecular theory, including what is known as Avogadro's law (6.022 x 10 ^ 23), dies at 79
- Jul 9 James Strang, American Mormon splinter group leader (self-proclaimed king of Beaver Island), dies of his wounds three weeks after being attacked by disaffected members at 43
- Jul 11 Josef Kajetán Tyl, Czech playwright, writer and author of the Czech national anthem (Kde domov můj), dies of an unknown illness at 48
- Jul 15 Margaretha Jacoba de Neufville, Dutch author (The Kidnap), dies at 81
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Jul 29 German pianist, composer (Humoresque), and music critic (Neue Zeitschrift für Musik - New Journal for Music), dies at 46
- Aug 4 Johann Gottlieb Schneider, German composer, dies at 59
- Aug 5 Robert Lucas Pearsall, English composer, dies at 61
- Aug 14 Constant Prévost, French geologist, dies at 69
- Aug 14 William Buckland, dean (Westminster)/geologist, dies
- Aug 19 Charles Frédéric Gerhardt, French chemist, dies at 39
- Aug 20 Philipp Jakob Riotte, German composer, dies at 80
- Aug 21 Peter Josef von Lindpaintner, German composer, dies at 64
- Aug 29 Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, British Christian writer, dies at 77
- Aug 30 Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, English writer (b. 1811)
- Aug 30 John Ross, Scottish naval officer and Artic explorer (he rediscovered Baffin Bay), dies at 79
- Sep 2 Yang Xiuqing [Yang Hsiu-ch'ing], Chinese commander-in-chief of Taiping Rebellion, killed for trying to usurp Hong Xiuquan at 34 or 355
- Sep 24 Henry Hardinge, British army officer and politician, 1st viscount Hardinge of Lahore, Governor-General of India (1844-48), dies at 71
- Oct 8 Théodore Chassériau, Dominican-French Romantic painter, muralist, and youngest artist exhibited at the Louvre museum, dies at 37
- Oct 10 Mikhail Vielgorsky, Russian composer, dies at 67
- Oct 19 William Sprague III, American politician (U.S. Senator from Rhode Island 1842-44)), dies at 56
- Oct 23 Alexander Ross, Canadian fur trader, dies at 73
- Oct 29 Carel Sirardus Willem van Hogendorp, Dutch colonial director, dies at 68
- Nov 4 Hippolyte Delaroche, French painter, dies at 62
- Nov 17 William Knyvett, British singer and composer, dies at 77
- Nov 20 Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician known for his work on the foundations of geometry and the parallel axiom (Wallace–Bolyai–Gerwien theorem), dies at 81
- Dec 20 Francesco Bentivegna, Italian revolutionary who led revolts in Sicily against the Bourbon rulers, executed by firing squad at 36
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide