- Jan 4 Ernest Panckoucke, French publisher (Horace), dies at 77
- Jan 9 Jakob Eduard Schmolzer, Austrian composer, dies at 73
- Jan 16 Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer (La Gioconda), dies at 51
- Jan 16 Jacob Kats, Flemish writer (Earthly Paradise), dies at 81
- Jan 18 Baldassare Verazzi, Italian painter (b. 1819)
- Jan 26 David Rice Atchison, American politician (not President of the United States for a day on March 4, 1849), dies at 78 [1]
- Feb 12 Horatio Seymour, American politician (18th Governor of New York), dies at 75
- Mar 18 Leopold Zunz, German Jewish scholar (Science of Judaism), dies at 91
- Mar 29 John Keble, Anglican priest and founder (Oxford Movement), dies at 73
- Mar 30 Joseph-Alfred Mousseau, French Canadian politician (b. 1838)
- Mar 31 Giovanni Rossi, composer, dies at 57
- Apr 9 Joseph Victor von Scheffel, German writer (Ekkehard), dies at 60
- Apr 13 John Humphrey Noyes, American preacher and founder of the Oneida Community (Perfectionists), dies at 74
- Apr 13 Károly Thern, Hungarian composer, pianist, and arranger, dies at 68
- Apr 27 Henry Hobson Richardson, American Romanesque revival architect (Thomas Crane Public Library), dies of Bright's disease at 47
- May 1 Conrad Busken Huet, Dutch writer (Country of Rubens), dies at 59
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
May 15 American poet (Collected Poems), dies of nephritis at 55
John Deere (1804-1886)
May 17 American blacksmith and manufacturer (founded Deere & Company), dies at 82
- May 21 Stephen Pearl Andrews, American abolitionist, writer, and individualist anarchist, dies at 74
Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886)
May 23 German historian who founded the modern concept of source-based history, dies at 90
Aleksandr Ostrovsky (1823-1886)
Jun 14 Russian playwright (Artists & Admirers), dies at 63
- Jun 18 Joannes Paredis, Belgian Bishop of Roermond, dies at 90
- Jul 4 Pitikwahanapiwiyin [Poundmaker], Plains Cree chief (wrongly imprisoned for treason), dies at about 44 [1]
- Jul 5 Hendrik Gerhard, Dutch tailor, workers' rights activist (founder - Dutch Chapter of International Workingmen's Association), and "father of socialism in the Netherland " (Chairman of Dutch Social-Democratic (SDB) political party), dies at 57
- Jul 12 Ferdinand Berthier, French deaf educator (founder of the Société Centrale des Sourds-muets), dies at 82
- Jul 16 Ned Buntline [Edward Zane Carroll Judson], author, dies
- Jul 29 Adolf Muller Sr., Austrian composer of operettas, dies at 84
- Jul 29 Solomon Gazfried, Ukrainian rabbi and author (Kitzur Shulchan Aruch), dies (b. 1804)
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Jul 31 Hungarian romantic composer and virtuoso pianist (Faust Symphony), dies of heart disease at 74
- Aug 3 Per August Olander, Swedish violinist, and composer (Blenda), dies at 62
- Aug 4 Samuel J. Tilden, American politician (Governor of New York 1875-76, Presidential candidate 1876) and philanthropist (NY Public Library), dies at 72
- Aug 6 Wilhelm Scherer, German literature historian, dies at 45
- Aug 9 Samuel Ferguson, Northern Irish poet and artist (b. 1810)
- Aug 10 Eduard Grell, German composer, dies at 85
- Aug 11 Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet (b. 1843)
- Aug 13 Adolf von Doss, German composer, dies at 62
- Aug 16 Ramakrishna, Indian mystic and yogi, dies at 50
- Aug 17 Aleksandr Mikhailovich Butlerov, Russian chemist who discovered hexamine in 1859, dies at 57
- Aug 17 Arthur Middleton Manigault, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 61
- Aug 22 Jose da Silva Mendes Leal, Portuguese author (Indiana), dies at 67
- Aug 30 Ferris Jacobs, Jr., American military officer and politician (US Representative from New York 1881-83), dies at 50
- Sep 3 William W. Snow, American politician, U.S. House of Representatives from New York (1851-53), dies at 74
- Sep 14 Hubert Reis, German composer, dies at 84
- Sep 20 John Liptrot Hatton, English composer and pianist, dies at 77
- Sep 27 John Esten Cooke, American novelist (The Virginia Comedians) and Confederate States Army, dies at 55
- Oct 1 William Hepworth Thompson, English classical scholar and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, dies at 76
- Oct 8 Austin F. Pike, American politician from New Hampshire (b. 1819)
- Oct 10 David L Yule, 1st Jewish US senator, dies
- Oct 18 Philipp Franz von Siebold, German physician (b. 1796)
- Oct 21 Jose Hernandez, Argentine poet (La vuelta the MartinFierro), dies at 51
- Oct 23 Johann Nepomuk Kafka, Bohemian pianist and composer, dies at 67
- Nov 8 Fred Archer, English jockey (record 13 x GB Champion flat racing jockey 1874–86; 21 x British Classic Race wins; 5 x French Classic Race wins), commits suicide at 29
- Nov 11 Paul Bert, Auxerre, French Zoologist, Physiologist and pioneer of aerospace medicine whose study of the effects of air pressure on the body made possible space and ocean exploration, dies of dysentery at 53
Chester A. Arthur (1829-1886)
Nov 18 21st President of the United States (1881-85), dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at 57
- Nov 22 William Bliss Baker, American painter (b. 1859)
- Nov 25 Bernardino Guajardo, Chilean popular poet, dies
- Dec 5 Peter Hofstede de Groot, Dutch reformed theologist, dies at 84
- Dec 14 Antoni Wincenty Rutkowski, Polish-Russian composer, dies at 27
- Dec 30 William Wing "Old Blizzards" Loring, American Major General (Confederate Army), dies at 68
- Dec 31 Charles Pierre Schimpf, Dutch general (Governor of Suriname 1855-59), dies at 74
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide