- Jan 1 Johan Hendrik Koelman, Dutch portrait painter, dies at 66
- Jan 7 Abraham van Lier, Dutch theater director (Grand Théâtre des Variétés), dies at 73
- Jan 14 Friedrich von Amerling, Austrian painter, dies at 83
- Jan 14 Peter Donders, Dutch Roman Catholic missionary to Suriname, dies at 77
- Jan 17 William Giblin, Australian lawyer and politician (Premier of Tasmania, 1878 & 1879-84), dies of heart disease at 46
- Jan 18 Edward L. Youmans, American scientific writer and founder of "Popular Science" magazine, dies at 65
- Feb 10 Ellen Wood, English author (Pomeroy Abbey), dies at 73
- Feb 10 Pieter Jan Baptist Carel Robidé van der Aa, Dutch Indologist and geographer, dies at 54
- Feb 19 Multatuli [Eduard Douwes Dekker], Dutch writer (Max Havelaar), dies at 66
- Feb 27 Alexander Borodin, Russian composer and scientist (Robert LeDiable), dies at 53
- Mar 2 August W. Eichler, German botanist (developed a new system of classification of plants to reflect the concept of evolution), dies at 47
- Mar 2 Wilhelm Troszel, Polish operatic bass, composer, and voice teacher, dies at 63
- Mar 8 Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman (b. 1813)
- Mar 8 James Buchanan Eads, American engineer and inventor (Eads Bridge-St Louis), dies at 66
- Mar 8 Pavel Annenkov, Russian literature historian/critic, dies at 73 (b. 1813)
- Mar 16 Emanuel Kania, Polish composer, dies at 59
- Mar 24 Ivan Kramskoi, Russian painter and art critic, dies at 49
- Mar 28 Ditler Monrad, Danish politician and bishop (Council President of Denmark 1863-64), dies at 75
- Apr 11 Pyotr Petrovich Sokal'sky, Russian composer, dies at 54
- Apr 20 Muhammad Sharif Pasha, Egyptian statesman (b. 1826)
- Apr 28 Carl Ferdinand Pohl, German-Austrian music historian, organist, and composer, dies at 67
- Apr 30 Friedrich Wilhelm Markull, German composer and musician, dies at 71
- May 7 C. F. W. Walther, American Lutheran theologian (b. 1811)
- May 7 Samuel Cousins, English mezzotint engraver, dies at 85
- May 8 Alexander Ulyanov, Russian revolutionary and brother of Vladimir Lenin, hanged for the attempted assassination of tsar Alexander III at 21
- May 11 Jean-Baptiste Boussingault, French agricultural chemist (the nitrogen cycle), dies at 85
- May 14 Lysander Spooner, American philosopher (b. 1808)
- May 14 William Burnham Woods, American politician, judge, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), dies at 62
- May 23 Ludwig Mathias Lindeman, Norwegian organist, composer, musical folklorist, dies at 74
- May 27 Coenraad Johannes van Houten, Dutch chemist and cocoa manufacturer (Dutch process chocolate), dies at 86
- Jun 4 William A. Wheeler, American politician (19th Vice President of the United States), dies at 67
- Jun 12 Gustav Weber, Swiss organist, choral dierctor, and composer, dies at 41
- Jun 17 Mark Hopkins, American educator and philosopher (President of Williams College), dies at 85
- Jun 21 Adolf Schimon, Austrian German composer, dies at 67
- Jul 5 August Pott, German philological (Etymology Forschungen), dies at 84
- Jul 14 Alfred Krupp, German steel merchant and largest arms manufacturer of his day, dies at 75
- Jul 16 Nicaise de Keyser, Belgian painter (Battle at Woeringen), dies at 73
Dorothea Dix (1802-1887)
Jul 17 American pioneering nurse and social activist who created the first American mental asylums, dies at 85
- Jul 25 John Taylor, American religious leader (3rd President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), dies at 78
Agostino Depretis (1813-1887)
Jul 29 Italian statesman, Prime Minister of Italy (1876-78, 1778-79, 1881-87), dies at 74
- Aug 1 Joseph Rainey, American politician, 1st African American in US House of Representatives (1870-1879), dies at 55
- Aug 8 Alexander William Doniphan, American lawyer and soldier, dies at 79
- Aug 14 Richard Jefferies, English naturalist and essayist, dies of tuberculosis at 38
- Aug 17 Franz Commer, German composer, dies at 74
- Aug 18 Orson Squire Fowler, American phrenologist and lecturer, dies at 77
- Aug 19 Alvan Clark, American astronomer and maker of the Dearborn Observatory telescope, the largest telescope in the world at the time, dies at 83
- Aug 20 Jules Laforgue, French poet (Les Complaintas), dies at 27
- Aug 27 Wilhelm Volkmar, German composer, dies at 74
- Sep 14 Friedrich Theodor Vischer, German philosopher and writer (Auch einer), dies at 80
- Sep 21 William Preston, American lawyer, politician and Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 70
- Sep 29 Bernhard von Langenbeck, German surgeon and founder of Langenbeck's Archives of Surgery, dies at 76
- Oct 7 George James Webb, English-American composer, dies at 84
- Oct 12 Dinah Craik, English writer (John Halifax, Gentleman), dies at 61
- Oct 17 Gustav Kirchhoff, German physicist (spectroscopy, coined "black body" radiation), dies at 63
- Oct 31 George Alexander Macfarren, British composer and musicologist, dies at 74
- Nov 2 Swedish Nightingale [Jenny Lind], Swedish soprano, dies at 67
Doc Holliday (1851-1887)
Nov 8 American dentist, gambler, and gunfighter (Gunfight at the O.K. Corral), dies of tuberculosis at 36
- Nov 18 Eduard Marxsen, German pianist and composer, dies at 81
- Nov 18 Gustav Fechner, German psychologist and physicist (Weber–Fechner law), dies at 86
- Nov 18 Heinrich Panofka, German violist and composer, dies at 80
Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)
Nov 19 American poet ("Give us your tired & poor", "New Colossus" - on the base of Statue of Liberty), dies likely from Hodgkin's lymphoma at 38
- Nov 20 Louis Gallait, Belgian historical painter (Egmont & Receiver), dies at 77
- Nov 25 Johann J Bachofen, Swiss historic rights, dies at 71
- Nov 27 Frank Dalton, American lawman of the Old West (Deputy US Marshal - Oklahoma Territory), brother of the Dalton Gang of outlaws, killed in the line of duty at 28
- Dec 1 Albertus Jacobus Duymaer van Twist, Dutch Governor-General of Dutch East Indies (1851-56), dies at 78
- Dec 5 Eliza Roxcy Snow, American poet (b. 1804)
- Dec 9 Mahmadu Lamine, Senegalese marabout and military leader
- Dec 26 Jules François Blasini, Curaçaon-Corsican pianist and composer, dies at 40
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning