- Jan 6 Alvin Kraenzlein, American track and field athlete (4 Olympic gold 1900), dies at 51
- Jan 8 Dumitru Kiriac-Georgescu, Romanian composer known for sacred choral works, and ethnomusicologist, dies at 61
- Jan 11 Thomas Hardy, English novelist (Far from the Madding Crowd) and poet, dies near Dorchester at 87
- Jan 12 Ruth Snyder, American murderer, dies by the electric chair at Sing Sing prison at 32
- Jan 13 Johan Peter Koch, Danish officer and explorer, dies at 57
- Jan 17 William Corless Mills, American museum curator (excavated Ohio Indian mounds), dies at 68
- Jan 21 George Washington Goethals, American army general and civil engineer who supervised the construction of the Panama Canal, dies at 69
- Jan 27 Marie Verstraete, Belgian actress (Mooi Juultje van Volendam, Frou Frou), dies at 74
- Jan 28 Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Spanish writer (4 Horsemen of Apocalypse), dies at 60
Douglas Haig (1861-1928)
Jan 29 British fieldmarshal (Sudan, WWI) nicknamed "Butcher Haig" due to mass casualties under his command during the Battle of the Somme, dies from a heart attack at 66
- Jan 30 Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician (1926 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, whose research proved to be a mistake), dies at 60
- Jan 30 Karl Bleibtreu, German author (Revolution of Literature), dies at 69
Assassination
Car Crash
Hanging
Killed in Action
Plane Crash
Poisoning