- Jan 1 Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (1st to broadcast & receive radio waves), dies after surgical complications at 36
- Jan 8 Pierre-Joseph van Beneden, Belgian paleontologist (life cycle of tapeworms), dies at 84
- Jan 13 Nadezhda von Meck, Russian patroness of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, dies of tuberculosis at 62
- Jan 19 Francois Haverschmidt, Dutch writer (Snikken en grimlachjes), dies at 58
- Jan 21 Guillaume Lekeu, Belgian composer (Épithalame), dies of typhoid fever at 24
- Jan 24 Constance Fenimore Woolson, American writer (Jupiter Lights), dies falls to her death in Venice at 53
- Jan 27 Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, English sculptor and naturalist, dies at 86
- Feb 7 Adolphe Sax, Belgian musician and instrument inventor (saxophone, saxtromba, saxtuba), dies at 79
- Feb 9 Maxime Du Camp, French writer, traveler and early photographer (Les Buveurs de Cendres), dies at 72
- Feb 11 Emilio Arrieta, Spanish opera and zarzuela composer (Maria), dies at 70
- Feb 12 Hans von Bülow, German pianist and composer (b. 1830)
- Feb 13 Franjo Rački, Croatian historian and politician, dies at 65
- Feb 14 Eugène Charles Catalan, French-Belgian mathematician (worked on continued fractions, descriptive geometry, number theory and combinatorics), dies at 79
- Feb 17 Francisco Barbieri Spanish zarzuela opera composer (El Diablo en el poder), dies at 70
- Feb 19 Ernesto Camillo Sivori, Italian violinist and composer, dies at 78
- Feb 21 Gustave Caillebotte, French painter (Rue de Paris) and member of Impressionists, dies at 45
- Feb 25 Steele MacKaye [James Morrison Steele MacKaye], American playwright and actor (Spectatorium, Paul Kauvar), dies at 51
- Mar 3 Ned Williamson, American baseball player (Chicago White Stockings), dies at 36
- Mar 11 John Selby, England cricket batsman (6 Tests, 2 x 50; Nottinghamshire CCC), dies of paralytic stroke at 44
- Mar 12 Illarion Pryanishnikov, Russian painter (b. 1840)
- Mar 20 Lajos Kossuth, Hungarian lawyer, politician, journalist, and liberal revolutionary (Governor-President of Hungary, 1849), dies at 91
- Mar 21 Jacob Rosenhaim, Jewish-German composer, dies at 80
- Mar 24 Robert Prescott Stewart, Irish composer, organist, conductor, and teacher, dies at 68
- Mar 26 Alfred H. Colquitt, American lawyer and Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 69
- Mar 27 Verney Lovett Cameron, English explorer (Tanganyika), dies at 49
- Apr 8 Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Indian novelist (Mrinalini, Anandamath), dies at 55
- Apr 11 Constantin Lipsius, German architect (b. 1832)
- Apr 14 Adolf Friedrich von Schack, German poet, dies at 78
- May 8 Clara Fey, German Roman Catholic Nun and the founder of the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus, dies at 79
- May 21 August Kundt, German physicist, (sound vibration, test of Kundt), dies at 54
- May 21 Emile Henry, French anarchist (b. 1872)
- May 24 William Joseph Westbrook, British organist and sacred music composer, dies at 63
- Jun 3 Karl Eduard Zachariae, German expert on Byzantine Law (b. 1812)
- Jun 5 Immanuel Faisst, German composer, dies at 70
- Jun 22 Alexandre-Antonin Taché, Canadian archbishop (b. 1823)
- Jun 24 Marie François Sadi Carnot, President of France (1887-94), assassinated by Italian anarchist Sante Geronimo Caserio at 56
- Jul 1 Julius van Zuylen van Nyevelt, Dutch minister of Foreign affairs, dies at 77
- Jul 5 Austen Henry Layard, British archaeologist and diplomat (work in Mesopotamia including rediscovery of Nineveh), dies at 77
- Jul 5 Betty Paoli, writer, dies
- Jul 8 Vladimir Nikitich Kashperov, Russian composer, dies at 67
- Jul 13 Juventino Rosas, composer, dies at 26
- Jul 17 Josef Hyrtl, Austrian anatomist, dies at 83
- Jul 18 Leconte de Lisle, French poet and writer, dies at 75
- Jul 30 Walter Pater, English aesthete and writer (Plato & Platonism), dies of rheumatic fever at 54
- Aug 3 George Inness, American landscape painter (Delaware Water Gap), dies at 69
- Aug 16 Herman van der Tuuk, Dutch linguist (Toba Batak grammar), dies at 70
- Aug 17 Charles L. Robinson, American politician (1st Governor of Kansas, 1861-63; Kansas Senate, 1873-81), dies at 76
- Aug 17 Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk, Dutch philologist (Tobasch' Grammar), dies at 70
- Aug 18 William Charles Levey, Irish conductor and composer, dies at 57
- Aug 26 PPH van Ham, Dutch general-major, dies in battle on Lombok
- Aug 26 Te Wherowhero Tāwhia, Second Māori King and leader of the Waikato tribes in New Zealand, dies at 71 or 72
- Sep 8 Hermann von Helmholtz, German physician and physicist, dies at 73
- Sep 13 (Alexis) Emmanuel Chabrier, French pianist and composer (España; Joyeuse marche; Le roi malgré lui), dies from general paresis at 53
- Sep 17 Deng Shichang, Chinese Imperial Navy captain, goes down with his ship in Korea Bay during the First Sino-Japanese War at 44
- Sep 24 Martinus Nijhoff, Dutch publisher (Van Dale) and founder (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers), dies at 68
- Oct 7 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., American physician and author (Old Ironsides), dies at 85
- Oct 8 Norbert Rillieux, American chemical engineer and inventor (sugar refiner), dies at 88
- Oct 19 James Darmesteter, French author and antiquarian (translations of the Avesta, the sacred scripture of Zoroastrianism), dies at 45
- Oct 20 James Anthony Froude, English historian and novelist (The Nemesis of Faith), dies at 76
- Oct 30 Honoré Mercier, Canadian politician and 9th Premier of Quebec (1887-91), dies at 54
Alexander III (1845-1894)
Nov 1 Russian Tsar (1881-94), dies if terminal kidney disease at 49
- Nov 8 Michael "King" Kelly, American Baseball HOF utility (NL batting champion 1884, 86; NL runs scored 1884–86, Chicago White Sox) and manager (Boston Beaneaters, Reds; Cincinnati KK's), dies from pneumonia at 36
Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894)
Nov 20 Russian pianist and composer (Dmitri Donskoi), dies at 64
- Nov 25 Solomon Caesar Malan, British orientalist, dies at 82
- Nov 27 Johanna von Puttkamer, Prussian noblewoman, wife of Otto von Bismarck (b. 1824)
- Nov 30 Joseph E. Brown, American attorney and politician (42nd Governor of Georgia), dies at 73
- Dec 3 Joseph Schadde, Flemish architect (Antwerp Stock exchange), dies at 76
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Dec 3 Scottish novelist (Treasure Island; Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde), dies of a cerebral hemorrhage at 45
- Dec 5 Chief Gall, Sioux chief, commander at the Battle of Little Bighorn (b. 1840)
- Dec 7 Ferdinand de Lesseps, French diplomat (built Suez Canal), dies at 89
- Dec 8 Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician (b. 1821)
- Dec 8 Willem Jan Frans Nuyens, Dutch physician and Roman Catholic historian, dies at 71
John Thompson (1845-1894)
Dec 12 4th Prime Minister of Canada (Conservative: 1892-94), dies of a sudden heart attack at 49
- Dec 13 Sarah Parker Remond, African-American abolitionist, dies at 68
- Dec 18 Erastus Flaval Beadle, American publisher (Beadle's Dime Novels), dies at 73
- Dec 29 Christina Rossetti, English poet (Winter Rain, Passing Away), dies at 64
- Dec 30 Amelia Jenks Bloomer, American reformer who campaigned for temperance and women’s rights, dies at 76
- Dec 31 Thomas J Stieltjes, mathematician (Stieltjes-integral), dies at 38
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide