Victor Emmanuel II (1820-1878)
Jan 9 King of Sardinia (1849-61) and Italy (1861-78), dies at 57
- Jan 18 Antoine César Becquerel, French physicist who pioneered the study of electric and luminescent phenomena, dies at 89
- Jan 19 Henri V. Regnault, French physicist and chemist, dies at 67
- Jan 26 Ernst Heinrich Weber, German anatomist and physiologist (one of the founders of experimental psychology), dies at 82
- Feb 1 George Cruikshank, English caricaturist & illustrator (Grimm), dies at 85
- Feb 2 Josip Runjanin, Croatian Serb composer (Croatian National Anthem) and soldier, dies at 56
- Feb 7 Pius IX, "Pio Nono" [Giovanni Ferretti], Italian Pope (1846-78), held First Vatican Council, lost control of Papal States, dies at 85
- Feb 8 Elias M. Fries, Swedish botanist (System mycologicum), dies at 83
- Feb 10 Claude Bernard, French physiologist involved in the founding of modern physiology (blind experiments), dies at 64
- Feb 11 Gideon Welles, 24th U.S. secretary of the navy under presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, dies at 75
- Feb 17 José Amador de los Ríos, Spanish historian and poet, dies at 59
- Feb 18 Peter Laurentius Regout, Dutch industrialist (founded crystal and potter firm P. Regout & Co/Sphinx), dies at 76
- Feb 19 Charles-François Daubigny, French painter of the Barbizon school, dies at 61
- Feb 22 Franz Hunten, composer, dies at 84
- Feb 25 Townsend Harris, American diplomat (1st Western consul to reside in Japan), dies at 73
- Mar 3 Joseph Bonomi the Younger, English artist and Egyptologist, dies at 81
- Mar 6 Julius Caesar, English cricket batsman (first English tours to North America 1859-60, Australia & NZ 1864-5; Surrey CCC), dies from dropsy at 47
- Mar 16 William Banting, English undertaker, dies
- Mar 20 Julius Robert von Mayer, German physician and physicist (first law of thermodynamics), dies at 63
- Mar 24 Albin Masek, Czech composer, dies at 73
- Mar 27 Dobri Voynikov, Bulgarian teacher, playwright and journalist (The Phoney Civilization), dies at 44
- Mar 27 George Gilbert Scott, architect, dies
Mark Hopkins Jr. (1813-1878)
Mar 29 American business tycoon and railroad executive (Central Pacific Railroad), dies at 64
Boss Tweed (1823-1878)
Apr 12 American politician and corrupt New York fraudster, dies in prison of pneumonia at 55
- Apr 21 Temistocle Solera, Italian opera composer, dies at 62
- Apr 23 Friedrich Preller the elder, German landscape painter, dies at 73
- Apr 25 Anna Sewell, English author (Black Beauty), dies at 58
- May 12 Catherine Beecher, American educator (championed higher education for women), dies at 77
- May 13 Joseph Henry, American scientist and pioneer of electromagnetism, dies at 80
- May 14 Ookubo Toshimichi, Japanese statesman, samurai, and one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration (b. 1830)
- May 22 Franz von Holstein, German composer, dies at 52
- May 27 Carlo Marsili, Italian composer, dies at 49
John Russell (1792-1878)
May 28 1st Earl Russell, British Prime Minister (Whig: 1846-52 and 1865-66), dies at 85
- Jun 6 Gottfried Herrmann, German violinist, organist, Kapellmeister, and composer, dies at 70
- Jun 6 Robert Stirling, Scottish inventor (Stirling cycle engine) (b. 1790)
- Jun 12 Hendrik Jut, Dutch murderer (Head of Jut), dies at 26
- Jun 12 William Cullen Bryant, American poet (Thanatopsis), dies at 83
- Jun 16 Crawford Williamson Long, American surgeon and pioneer (use of ether as an anesthetic in surgery), dies at 62
- Jun 23 George Back, English sea officer and explorer (Back River), dies at 81
- Jun 26 Mercedes of Orléans, Queen of Spain, dies at 18
- Jul 2 François Bazin, French composer, dies at 61
- Jul 17 Aleardo [Gaetano] Aleardi, Italian poet (Tre Fiumi), dies at 65
- Jul 19 Yegor Ivanovich Zolotarev, Russian mathematician (analysis and number theory), dies at 31
- Jul 21 Sam Bass, American Old West train robber and outlaw, dies of wounds from a gunfight with Texas Rangers 27
- Jul 23 Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky, Bohemian physician (b. 1804)
- Jul 23 Miguel Hilarion Eslava, Spanish composer and priest (Chapel Master Royal Chapel Madrid), dies at 70
- Jul 28 George Law Curry, American newspaper publisher and Governor of Oregon, dies at 58
- Aug 17 Richard Upjohn, English-born American architect (Gothic Revival), dies at 76
- Aug 22 Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Queen of Spain (1829-33), dies at 72
- Aug 23 Adolf Fredrik Lindblad, Swedish lieder and classical composer, dies at 77
- Sep 9 Jacobo Ficher, Russian-Argentine composer, violinist, conductor, and music educator, dies at 81
- Sep 12 Friedrich August von Alberti, German geologist (Triasic Age), dies at 83
- Oct 1 Mindon, King of Burma (1853-1878) penultimate ruler of the Konbaung dynasty and founder of Mandalay, dies at 70
- Oct 5 George B. Vashon, American, lawyer, academic and poet, first African American lawyer, dies of yellow fever at 54
- Oct 25 Ludwig Wilhelm Maurer, German-Russian violinist, composer, and conductor, dies at 89
- Nov 28 Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti, Italian classical guitarist and composer, dies at 78
- Nov 28 Orson Hyde, American religious leader (b. 1805)
- Nov 30 George Henry Lewes, English philosophical writer (Life of Goethe), dies at 61
- Dec 10 Henry Wells, American businessman and founder (American Express Co & Wells Fargo & Co), dies at 72
- Dec 14 Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Grand Duchess of Hesse, dies at 35
- Dec 19 Bayard Taylor, American poet, travel author and diplomat, dies at 53
- Dec 25 Anna Claypoole Peale, American painter of miniatures, dies at 87
- Dec 28 José Bernardo Alcedo, Peruvian composer, dies at 90
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide