- Dec 2 Franz Xaver Witt, German church musician, composer, and priest, dies at 54
- Dec 2 Namık Kemal, Turkish writer, journalist and political activist (Young Ottomans), dies at 47
- Dec 3 Carl Zeiss, German scientific instrument and lens maker (Carl Zeiss AG), dies at 72
- Dec 10 Marià Obiols, Catalan composer, dies at 79
- Dec 11 John Rylands, English cloth merchant and philanthropist (Rylands & Sons, Manchester's 1st multi-millionaire), dies at 87
- Dec 31 Samson Raphael Hirsch, German Orthodox rabbi and intellectual founder of the Torah im Derech Eretz school of contemporary Orthodox Judaism, dies at 80
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide