- Jan 1 Mabel Cahill, Irish tennis player (US National C'ship 1891-92), dies at 41
- Jan 10 Kārlis Baumanis, Latvian composer (Dievs, svētī Latviju! (“God bless Latvia!”), the national anthem of Latvia), dies at 69
- Jan 11 Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, Warsaw, Hasidic rabbi (b. 1847)
- Jan 13 George Thorn, Premier of Queensland (b. 1838)
- Jan 14 Ernst Abbe, German physicist (Carl Zeiss Optics Company), dies at 64
- Jan 19 Debendranath Tagore, Indian philosopher of the Bengal Renaissance, religious reformer and founder of the Brahmo religion, dies at 87
- Jan 20 Stanislaw Pilinski, French pianist and composer, dies at 65
- Jan 24 William Sellers, American engineer and inventor (US standard screw thread), dies at 80 [1]
- Feb 1 Oswald Aschenbach, German landscape painter, dies at 77
- Feb 4 Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor, dies at 63
- Feb 9 Adolph Menzel, German painter and graphic artist, dies at 89
- Feb 10 Ignacy Krzyzanowski, Polish composer, dies at 78
- Feb 12 Marcel Schwob, French writer and journalist (Coeur double), dies at 37
- Feb 13 Konstantin Savitsky, Russian painter (Travellers in Auvergne), dies at 60
- Feb 15 Lewis Wallace, US diplomat/writer (Ben Hur), dies at 77
- Feb 17 Serge Alexandrovich, Governor-General of Moscow, assassinated by a terrorist bomb; his carriage driver also died, the assailant survived, was tried and hanged
- Feb 18 Jules de Geyter, Belgian poet (International), dies at 75
- Feb 20 Jeremiah W. Farnham, American merchant captain
- Feb 28 Joseph Clement Juglar, French physician and statistician (business cycle pioneer), dies at 85
- Mar 6 John Henninger Reagan, American Confederate politician, dies at 86
- Mar 9 William Brimage Bate, American Brigadier-General (Confederate Army) and 23rd Governor of Tennessee (1882-86), dies at 78
- Mar 12 Rudolf von Alt, Austrian painter, dies at 92
- Mar 15 Amalie Skram, Norwegian author (Paa St Jorgen), dies at 58
- Mar 15 Arnold Kerdijk, Dutch liberal politician (founder Social Weekly newspaper), dies at 60
- Mar 15 Luigi Manzotti, Italian mime artist, dancer and ballet choreographer, dies at 70
- Mar 19 Makar Ekmalyan, Armenian composer (Patarag - Divine Liturgy of Armenia), dies at 49
Jules Verne (1828-1905)
Mar 24 French novelist known as the "Father of Science Fiction" (Around the World in 80 Days), dies at 77
- Mar 26 Maurice Barrymore [Herbert Blythe], Indian-born British actor and patriarch of the Barrymore family, dies from syphilis at 55
- Mar 27 Mildred Childe Lee, American favourite daughter of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, dies at 59
- Apr 4 Constantin Meunier, Belgian painter and sculptor, dies at 73
- Apr 23 Gédéon Ouimet, Quebec politician (b. 1823)
- Apr 23 Karel Komzák II, Bohemian-Viennese violinist, and composer of marches and dances (Bad’ner Mad’ln), dies when he falls under train at 54 [1]
- Apr 25 Jacob Olie, Dutch photographer, dies at about 70
- Apr 28 Fitzhugh Lee, American Major General (Confederate Army) & 40th Governor of Virginia, dies at 69
- Apr 29 Ignatio Cervantes, Cuban pianist and composer (Danzas Cubanas), dies at 57
- May 9 Ernst Pauer, Austrian composer and pianist, dies at 78
- May 23 Martinus W van AA Meerbeke, head-editor (Time), dies at 75
- May 23 Mary Ashton Livermore, American social reformer and women's suffrage leader (President of American Woman Suffrage Association 1878-95), dies at 84
- May 26 Alphonse de Rothschild, French banker, dies at 78
- May 29 Leon Francis Victor Caron, French-Australian composer (Caron Opera Company), dies at 55
- Jun 4 Carl Albert Löschhorn, German composer, dies at 85
- Jun 13 Theodoros Delyannis, premier Greece, murdered
- Jun 13 Tippo-Tip [Hamed ben Mohammed], Zanzibar merchant, dies at about 67
- Jun 14 Tippu Tip [Hamad bin Muhammad al-Murjabi], Arabic ivory and slave trader based in Zanzibar, dies of malaria at about 73
- Jun 15 Hermann Wissmann, German African explorer and governor of East-Africa, dies at 51
- Jun 18 Hermann Lingg, German poet and playwright, dies at 85
- Jun 22 Francis Lubbock, Governor of Texas (b. 1815)
- Jun 27 Harold Mahony, Scottish tennis player (Wimbledon 1896), dies in a bicycling accident at 38
- Jun 30 John Hay, American politician and statesman who was a private secretary to Abraham Lincoln and US Secretary of State (1898-1905), dies at 66
- Jul 4 Élisée Reclus, French anarchist (b. 1830)
- Jul 5 Carel Victor Gerritsen, Dutch politician and free thinker (husband of suffragette Aletta Jacobs), dies at 55
- Jul 8 Walter Kittredge, American musician during American Civil War, dies at 70
- Jul 16 Bryan Morel Thomas, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 69
- Jul 23 Jean-Jacques Henner, French painter, dies at 76
- Jul 27 Robert Bullock, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 76
- Aug 4 Kinjikitile "Bokero" Ngwale, Tanzanian prophet and rebel leader, hanged for treason by German East African military
- Aug 14 Mohammed Abdoe, Egyptian writing expert (Al'Oerwah al-Woethka), dies
- Aug 14 Simeon Solomon, English Pre-Raphaelite painter, dies at 64
- Aug 20 David Wark, Irish-born Canadian senator (1867-1905) who served almost 38 years in office, dies at 101
- Aug 21 Jules Oppert, French-German Assyriologist (decodes characters), dies at 80
- Aug 21 Mary Mapes Dodge, American children's author (St. Nicholas Magazine), editor and writer (Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates), dies at 74
- Sep 10 Pete Browning, American baseball outfielder (AA batting champion 1882, 85 Louisville Eclipse/Colonels; Player's League batting champion 1890 Cleveland Infants), dies of asthenia at 44
- Sep 11 John Ware, American-Canadian black rancher and cowboy, dies after an accident at 55 [1]
- Sep 13 René Goblet, French politician (41st Prime Minister of France), dies at 76
Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza (1852-1905)
Sep 14 Italian-French explorer of the Congo (Brazzaville named after him), dies at 53
- Sep 18 George MacDonald, Scottish poet and sci-fi author (Princess & Curdie), dies at 80
- Sep 19 Thomas John Barnardo, Irish-born British social worker, and philanthropist (established Barnardo homes for children), dies at 60
- Sep 20 Vjenceslav Novak, Croatian Realist writer (Pavao Šegota), dies at 46
- Sep 20 Walter Cecil Macfarren, British pianist, teacher (Royal Academy, 1846-1903), conductor, and composer, dies at 79
- Sep 21 Rudolf Baumbach, German writer of student drinking songs, dies at 64
- Sep 25 Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac, French politician (b. 1853)
- Oct 2 José Maria de Heredia, Cuban-French sonnet poet (Les Trophées), dies at 62
- Oct 6 Ferdinand von Richthofen, German geographer and explorer, dies at 72
- Oct 13 Henry Irving [John Brodribb], British Victorian actor, 1st actor to receive a knighthood (knighted 1895) and the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula, dies at 67
- Oct 21 José Teodor Vilar, Spanish organist and composer (La Rambla de les Flors), dies at 69
- Oct 28 Alphonse Allais, French humorist and author (Le chat noir), dies at 51
- Oct 29 Etienne Desmarteau, Canadian athlete (b. 1873)
- Oct 29 Hendrik Witbooi, Nama chief (modern Namibia) who resisted German colonial control (pioneered ideas of Pan-Africanism), dies fighting (born c. 1835) [1]
- Nov 2 Albert von Kölliker, Swiss anatomist and histologist (one of the first to interpret tissue structure in terms of cellular elements), dies at 88
George Williams (1821-1905)
Nov 6 English philanthropist and founder of YMCA, dies at 84
- Nov 8 Victor Borisov-Musatov, Russian painter, dies at 35
- Nov 17 Adolphe [Adolf Wilhelm August Karl Friedrich], Grand Duke of Luxembourg (1890-1905), dies at 88
- Nov 17 Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and son of Leopold I, dies at 68
- Dec 3 John Bartlett, American writer and publisher (compiled Familiar Quotations), dies at 85
- Dec 9 Henry Holmes, English violinist and composer, dies at 66
- Dec 29 Martin Wiberg, Swedish computer pioneer, dies at 79
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning