- Jan 10 Pierre A du Terrail, French writer, dies at 41
- Jan 19 Henri Regnault, French painter, dies at 27
- Jan 21 Jan Jacob Rochussen, Dutch Governor-General of Dutch East Indies (1845-51), dies at 73
- Jan 29 Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé, French Canadian writer (Les Anciens Canadiens), dies at 84
- Feb 1 Alexander Nikoleyevich Serov, Russian composer, dies at 51
- Feb 3 Thomas William Robertson, English playwright (Society, Caste), dies at 42
- Feb 7 Henry Steinway [Heinrich Steinweg], German American piano manufacturer (Steinway & Sons), dies at 73
- Feb 12 Alice Cary, American poet (Cincinnati Sentinel), dies at 50
- Feb 19 John B. Magruder, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 63
- Feb 20 Paul Kane, Irish-Canadian painter, dies at 60
- Feb 26 Charles Niellon, Belgian general (Liberation of Antwerp during Belgian Revolution), dies at 76
- Feb 26 Sophia Hawthorne, American writer, painter and illustrator, dies at 61
- Mar 18 Augustus De Morgan, Indian-born British mathematician and logician (b. 1806)
- Mar 19 Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger, Austrian mineralogist (b. 1795)
- Mar 20 Antonio Buzzolla, Italian composer, dies at 56
- Mar 22 Johnny Cuzens, Australian aboriginal cricketer (1st Australian indigenous tour to UK 1868), dies
- Mar 30 Louise, Dutch-born Queen of Sweden and Norway, dies at 42
- Apr 5 Andreas Henkel, German organist, composer, and pedagogue, dies at 66
- Apr 7 Alexander Lloyd, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
- Apr 7 Alexander of Wales, British Prince, son of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, dies at 1 day old after born prematurely
- Apr 7 Wilhelm Freiherr von Tegetthoff, Austrian admiral (Helgoland/Lissa), dies of pneumonia at 43
- Apr 8 Charles-Louis Hanssens, Belgian composer, dies at 68
- Apr 18 Omar Pasha [Mihajlo Latas], Serbian-Ottoman field marshal (Crimean War) and Governor (Bosnia, Iraq), dies at 64
- Apr 21 Elisabeth Grube, writer, dies
- Apr 27 Sigismond Fortune Francois Thalberg, Austrian composer, dies at 59
- Apr 29 Jan Gelinde van Blom, Dutch Frisian notary, poet, and folksong writer, dies at 75
Howard B. Cushing (1838-1871)
May 5 American military officer, dies fighting Apaches in Arizona at 32
- May 7 Louis-Joseph Papineau, Canadian political reformer (Patriote movement), dies at 84
John Herschel (1792-1871)
May 11 English astronomer and photographer who invented the blueprint and catalogued southern hemisphere stars, dies at 79
- May 12 Daniel François Esprit Auber, French opera composer (Fra Diavolo), dies at 89
- May 12 John F. W. Herschel, British astronomer (Catalogue of Nebulae), dies at 79
- May 24 Francisco Salvador Daniel, French composer, and ethnomusicologist, dies at 40
- May 26 Aimé Maillart, French opera composer (Les Dragons de Villars), dies at 54
- Jun 2 George Stevens, English jockey (record 5 Grand National wins), dies from fractured skull at 38
- Jun 7 Thomas Jackson Rodman, American military inventor of the rodman gun and perforated-cake gunpowder, dies on duty at 54
- Jun 8 Satank, Kiowa indian chief, shot to death
Anna Atkins (1799-1871)
Jun 9 English botanist, photographer and the 1st person to publish a book illustrated with photographic images, dies of paralysis, rheumatism, and exhaustion at 72
Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805-1871)
Jun 13 French watchmaker and illusionist considered the father of modern magic, dies of pneumonia at 65
- Jun 17 Clement Vallandigham, American politician (Rep-D-Ohio, convicted of opposing civil war, exiled to Confederate States), dies after accidentally shooting himself at 50
- Jun 18 George Grote, British historian (History of Greece), dies at 76
- Jul 5 Cristina Trivulzio di Belgioioso, Italian princess and politician, dies at 63
- Jul 6 Antonio de Castro Alves, Brazilian poet (O navio negreiro), dies at 34
- Jul 15 Tad Lincoln, youngest son of US President Abraham Lincoln, dies at 18
- Jul 17 Carl Tausig, Polish pianist, student and protégé of Liszt, and composer noted for his transcriptions, dies of typhoid at 29
- Jul 31 Phoebe Cary, American poet (Poems of Alice & Phoebe Cary), dies at 46
- Aug 26 Charles Scribner, American magazine and book publisher, dies of typhoid fever at 50
- Aug 27 William Whiting Boardman, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut), dies at 76
- Sep 2 Arvid August Afzelius, Swedish poet and historian, dies at 85
- Sep 3 Václav Emanuel Horák, Czech composer, chiefly of liturgical music, organist, and kapellmeister, dies at 71
- Sep 7 Cowper Phipps Coles, English inventor (revolving gun turret), drowns at 51
- Sep 7 Mehmed Ali Pasha, Turkish marshal and statesman, dies fighting in Albania at 50
- Sep 8 Etienne-Joseph Soubre, Belgian composer, dies at 57
- Sep 12 Karl Collan, Finnish composer, dies at 43
- Sep 23 Alexander N. Afanasjev, Russian story teller, dies at 45
- Sep 26 Cipriani Potter, English pianist and composer, dies at 78
- Oct 5 Alexander Afanasyev, Russian ethnographer and folklorist, dies at 45
- Oct 10 Octavius Catto, American educator (Institute for Colored Youth, 1859-71), civil rights activist, and baseball player (Philadelphia Pythians, 1865-71), killed in election day race riot in Philadelphia at 32
Charles Babbage (1791-1871)
Oct 18 British mathematician and inventor (calculating machine) considered the "father of the computer", dies of renal failure at 79
- Oct 22 Roderick Murchison, Scottish Geologist (Silurian system), dies at 79
- Nov 11 William Lonsdale, English geologist and paleontologist (fossil coral), dies at 77
- Nov 22 Oscar J Dunn, (Lt Gov-La), dies suddenly, charges he was poisoned
- Dec 16 Willibald Alexis, German writer (Schloss Avalon), dies at 73
- Dec 29 Ferdinand Marcucci, Italian harpist and composer, dies at 71
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning