1775 (MDCCLXXV) was a common year starting on Sunday (dominical letter A) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Thursday (dominical letter D) of the Julian calendar, the 1775th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 775th year of the 2nd millennium, the 75th year of the 18th century, and the 6th year of the 1770s decade. As of the start of 1775, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
The American Revolution begins this year, with the first military engagement being the April 19 Battles of Lexington and Concord on the day after Paul Revere's now-legendary ride. The Second Continental Congress takes various steps toward organizing an American government, appointing George Washington commander-in-chief (June 14), Benjamin Franklin postmaster general (July 26) and creating a Continental Navy (October 13) and a Marine force (November 10) as landing troops for it, but as yet the 13 colonies have not declared independence, and both the British (June 12) and American (July 15) governments make laws. On July 6, Congress issues the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms and on August 23, King George III of England declares the American colonies in rebellion, announcing it to parliament on November 10. On June 17, two months into the colonial siege of Boston, at the Battle of Bunker Hill, just north of Boston, British forces are victorious, but only after suffering severe casualties and after Colonial forces run out of ammunition, Fort Ticonderoga is taken by American forces in New York Colony's northern frontier, and American forces unsuccessfully invade Canada, with an attack on Montreal defeated by British forces on November 13 and an attack on Quebec repulsed December 31.
Human knowledge and mastery over nature advances when James Watt builds a successful prototype of a steam engine, and a scientific expedition continues as Captain James Cook claims the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands in the south Atlantic Ocean for Britain. Nature's power over humanity is dramatically demonstrated when the Independence Hurricane (August 29 – September 13) devastates the east coast of North America, killing 4,173, and when a smallpox epidemic begins in New England.
January – The Habsburg Monarchy forces the Ottoman Empire to cede Bukovina to its rule.
January 5 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart finishes a Sonata for Keyboard in C.
January 16–20 – Second voyage of James Cook: Captain James Cook circumnavigates, makes the first landing on and (on January 17) takes possession of South Georgia in the southern Atlantic Ocean for the Kingdom of Great Britain. The following month he discovers the South Sandwich Islands.
February 9 – American Revolution: The Parliament of Great Britain declares the Province of Massachusetts Bay to be in rebellion.
February 15 – Pope Pius VI succeeds Pope Clement XIV as the 250th pope.
March 6 – Raghunathrao, Peshwa of the Maratha Empire in India, signs the Treaty of Surat with the British Governor-General Warren Hastings in Bombay ceding the territories of Salsette and Bassein to the British East India Company along with part of the revenues from Surat and Bharuch districts in return for military assistance. This leads to the First Anglo-Maratha War fought between the British and the Marathas, ending with the Treaty of Salbai in 1782.
March 17 – Catherine the Great of Russia issues a manifesto prohibiting freed serfs from being returned to serfdom.
March 23 – American Revolution: Patrick Henry, a delegate to the Second Virginia Convention after the Virginia House of Burgesses was disbanded by the Royal Governor, delivers his "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia.
April 18 – American Revolution: Paul Revere and William Dawes, instructed by Dr. Joseph Warren, ride from Boston to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Sam Adams that British forces are coming to take them prisoner and to seize colonial weapons and ammunition in Concord.
April 19 – American Revolution: Hostility between Britain and its American colonies explodes into bloodshed at the Battles of Lexington and Concord igniting the American Revolution.
May 9 – American Revolution: Brunswick militiamen commanded by Samuel Thompson capture Henry Mowat, captain of HMS Canceaux.
May 10
American Revolution: The Second Continental Congress meets, elects John Hancock president, raises the Continental Army under George Washington as commander and authorizes the colonies to adopt their own constitutions.
American Revolution: Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, leading the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont, capture Fort Ticonderoga.
May 14 – American Revolution: Battle off Fairhaven, the first naval engagement of the American Revolutionary War.
May 17 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress bans trade with Canada.
May 20 - American Revolution: Battle of Lexington Committee of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina ratify the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, dissolving allegiance to the Royal Crown of England becoming the first collective to declare sovereignty in the Royal Colonies.
June 11 – Battle of Machias, the second naval engagement of the American Revolutionary War.
June 12 – American Revolution:
The British forces offer a pardon to all colonists who lay down their arms.
Action by citizens of Machias, Maine, in capturing British ships recognises the existence of a United States Merchant Marine.
June 14 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress names George Washington as commander of the Continental Army.
June 16 – Post of Chief Engineer of the Continental Army created.
June 17 – American Revolution: Two months into the colonial siege of Boston, British open fire on Breed's Hill on Charles Town Peninsula. After 3 charges, the British take the hill in the misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill.
June 19 – The post of Commanding General is created by the Continental Congress.
June 25 – The Great Fire of Tartu, Governorate of Livonia, destroys most of the town.
July 3 – American Revolution: George Washington takes command of the 17,000-man Continental Army at Cambridge.
July 5 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress sends the Olive Branch Petition, hoping for a reconciliation.
July 6 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress issues Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, which contains the words: "Our cause is just. Our union is perfect... being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves...".
July 26 – The Second Continental Congress appoints Benjamin Franklin to be the first Postmaster General of what later becomes the United States Post Office Department.
July 30 – Second voyage of James Cook: HMS Resolution anchors off the south coast of England, Captain Cook having completed the first eastabout global circumnavigation.
August 18 – Tucson is founded.
August 21 – American Revolution – Siege of Fort St. Jean: American rebels launch an invasion of Canada.
August 23 – American Revolution: Refusing to even look at the Olive Branch Petition, King George issues a Proclamation of Rebellion against the American colonies.
August 29 – September 12 – The Independence Hurricane from South Carolina to Nova Scotia kills 4,170, mostly fishermen and sailors.
September 8 – The unsuccessful Rising of the Priests in Malta.
September 25 – American Revolution: Siege of Fort St. Jean – Battle of Longue-Pointe: Thirteen Colonies revolutionary forces under Maj. Ethan Allen attack Montreal in Quebec, commanded by British General Guy Carleton. Allen's forces are defeated, and Allen himself is captured and held on British ships until he is later released.
October – The Sayre Plotters attempt to kidnap George III of Great Britain.
October 13 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress orders the establishment of the Continental Navy (later the United States Navy).
October 18 – American Revolution: Burning of Falmouth by ships of the Royal Navy commanded by Henry Mowat, who had been humiliated by local militiamen on May 9th.
October 26 – American Revolution: George III announces to Parliament that the American colonies are in an uprising and must be dealt with accordingly.
November – American Revolution: Colonel Richard Richardson's South Carolina revolutionaries march through Ninety-Six District in what becomes known as the Snow Campaign, effectively ending all major support for the Loyalist cause in the backcountry of South Carolina.
November 10 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress passes a resolution creating the Continental Marines to serve as landing troops for the recently created Continental Navy (the Marines are disbanded at end of the war in April 1783 but reformed on July 11, 1798 as the United States Marine Corps).
November 13 – American Revolution – Battle of Montreal: American forces under Brigadier General Richard Montgomery capture Montreal. British General Guy Carleton escapes to Quebec.
November 17 – John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore offers freedom to slaves who join the loyalist army, thus losing the support of most planters, who see slaves as their vital livelihood.
December 5 – American Revolution: Henry Knox begins his journey to Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that has been captured from Fort Ticonderoga.
December 9 – American Revolution: Battle of Great Bridge: Victory by the Continental Army and militia leads to withdrawal of the British from the Colony of Virginia.
December 31 – American Revolution: Battle of Quebec: British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec.
Industrial Revolution in Great Britain.
James Watt's 1769 steam engine patent is extended to June 1800 by Act of Parliament and the first engines are built under it.
John Wilkinson invents and patents a new kind of boring machine.
Catherine the Great decrees a Statute for the Administration of the Provinces of the Russian Empire dividing the country into provinces and districts for efficient government.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart writes his five violin concertos in Salzburg at about this date.
Great Fire of Tartu.
A smallpox epidemic begins in New England.
Typhoon Liengkieki devastates the Pacific atoll of Pingelap.
January 2 – Henry Tufton, 11th Earl of Thanet, English cricketer (d. 1849)
January 3 – Francis Caulfeild, 2nd Earl of Charlemont, Irish politician (d. 1863)
January 4
George Weare Braikenridge, Antiquarian (d. 1856)
Carlo, Duke of Calabria, Italian prince (d. 1778)
January 6 – Date Narimura, Daimyo (d. 1796)
January 7 – Thomas Amyot, English antiquarian (d. 1850)
January 9
Juan Francisco Larrobla, Uruguayan politician (d. 1842)
Antonio Villavicencio, President of Colombia (d. 1816)
January 10 – James Sewall Morsell, United States federal judge (d. 1870)
January 13 – Stanisław Kostka Zamoyski, Polish noble (d. 1856)
January 18
Pedro Moreno (d. 1817)
Evelyn Pierrepont, British politician (d. 1801)
January 19 – George Pyke, Canadian politician (d. 1851)
January 20 – André-Marie Ampère, French physicist and mathematician (d. 1836)
January 21 – Manuel García, Spanish singer, teacher, composer (d. 1832)
January 22 – Abraham H. Schenck, American politician (d. 1831)
January 23
José Fernández Salvador, Ecuadorian politician and jurist (d. 1853)
Pietro Colletta, Italian general (d. 1831)
John Rubens Smith, American artist (d. 1849)
January 27 – Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, German philosopher (d. 1854)
January 28 – Lady Charlotte Bury (d. 1861)
January 30 – Walter Savage Landor, English writer and poet (d. 1864)
January 31 – John Richard Farre, physician (d. 1862)
February 1 – Philippe de Girard, French engineer, inventor of the first flax spinning frame (d. 1845)
February 2 – Gurun Princess Hexiao (d. 1823)
February 3
Maximilien Sébastien Foy, French military leader (d. 1825)
Louis-François Lejeune, General, painter and printmaker (d. 1848)
February 8
Jacob Liv Borch Sverdrup, Norwegian educator (d. 1841)
Jacob Sverdrup, Norwegian educator (d. 1841)
Antonio Bertoloni, Italian botanist who made extensive studies of Italian plants (d. 1869)
Thomas Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth, British politician (d. 1855)
February 9
Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1856)
Theodor Hell, pseudonym of Karl Gottfried Theodor Winkler (d. 1856)
February 10
James Wilkes Maurice, Royal Navy officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars (d. 1857)
Ádám Récsey, Prime Minister of Hungary between 3 October and 7 October 1848 (d. 1852)
Charles Lamb, English essayist (d. 1834)
February 11 – William Hall, American politician (d. 1856)
February 12
Charles Lloyd, poet (d. 1839)
Louisa Adams, First Lady of the United States (d. 1852)
February 13 – Benjamin Gorham, American politician (d. 1855)
February 15
Simmons Jones Baker, American politician (d. 1853)
Miguel Ramos Arizpe, Mexican priest (d. 1843)
Paul Allen, American author and editor (d. 1826)
February 16 – Zalmon Wildman, American politician (d. 1835)
February 17
Frederick Garling, English attorney and solicitor (d. 1848)
Heinrich Jacob Aldenrath, German artist (d. 1844)
February 18 – Thomas Girtin, British artist (d. 1802)
February 19
John Bibby, Businessman (d. 1840)
Giovanni Battista Comolli, Italian artist (d. 1831)
February 20
Guy-Victor Duperré, French admiral (d. 1846)
John Starr, Canadian politician (d. 1827)
Israel Gregg, first captain of the historic steamboat Enterprise (d. 1847)
February 21
Claudius Herrick, American educator and minister (d. 1831)
Jean-Baptiste Girard, soldier (d. 1815)
February 22
Gardiner Henry Guion (d. 1832)
William Seymour, American politician (d. 1848)
February 24
Matěj Kopecký, Czech puppeteer (d. 1847)
Sir Claudius Hunter, 1st Baronet, Lord Mayor of London (d. 1851)
Edward St Maur, 11th Duke of Somerset (d. 1855)
February 25 – John Caldwell, businessman and politician in Lower Canada (d. 1842)
March 3 – Henry Prittie, 2nd Baron Dunalley, British politician (d. 1854)
March 4 – Cuthbert Powell, American politician (d. 1849)
March 5 – Adam Elias von Siebold, German Gynecologist (d. 1828)
March 10 – Marc-Antoine Jullien de Paris, French journalist (d. 1848)
March 11 – Nils Landmark, Norwegian politician (d. 1859)
March 12
Henry Eckford, Scottish-born American shipbuilder, naval architect, industrial engineer, entrepreneur (d. 1832)
Michel Grendahl, Norwegian politician (d. 1849)
Joseph Chitty, English lawyer and legal writer (d. 1841)
March 14 – Samuel Street, Jr., Upper Canada businessman (d. 1844)
March 15 – Juan Bautista Arismendi, General in the Venezuelan War of Independence (d. 1841)
March 17 – Ninian Edwards, Governor of Illinois and Senator from Illinois (d. 1833)
March 19 – Ramsay Richard Reinagle, English painter (d. 1862)
March 22
Jack Crawford, Royal Navy sailor (d. 1831)
Johan Collett, Norwegian politician (d. 1827)
March 23 – William Haseldine Pepys (d. 1856)
March 24
Pauline Auzou, French painter (d. 1835)
Pierre Berthezène, French Army general (d. 1847)
Muthuswami Dikshitar, South Indian poet and composer (d. 1835)
March 25 – John Johnston, United States Indian agent (d. 1861)
March 26 – Thomas Monteagle Bayly, American politician (d. 1834)
March 28 – Johann Heinrich Gossler, Hamburg banker and grand burgher (d. 1842)
March 30 – Hieronymus Karl Graf von Colloredo-Mansfeld, Austrian corps commander during the Napoleonic Wars (d. 1822)
April 2 – Calvin Jones, American politician (d. 1846)
April 4 – Dutch Sam, British boxer (d. 1816)
April 5 – Johann Nepomuk Rust, Austrian surgeon (d. 1840)
April 7
Louis Barbe Charles Sérurier, French diplomat (d. 1860)
Eliza Jumel, American socialite (d. 1865)
Francis Cabot Lowell, United States businessman (d. 1817)
April 8
Adam Albert von Neipperg, Austrian general and statesman (d. 1829)
Thomas Powys, 2nd Baron Lilford, British peer (d. 1825)
April 10 – Carl Wigand Maximilian Jacobi, German psychiatirst (d. 1858)
April 12
Christian Samuel Theodor Bernd, German linguist and heraldist (d. 1854)
Vito Nunziante, Italian general (d. 1836)
April 13 – Adolph Henke, German physician (d. 1843)
April 14
Karl Becker, German philologist (d. 1849)
John Philip, missionary in South Africa (d. 1851)
April 16 – Charles Stewart, British bishop (d. 1837)
April 19 – Samuel King, minister (d. 1842)
April 21
Alexander Anderson, American illustrator (d. 1870)
Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby, British politician (d. 1851)
April 22
Henry Ryan, US-Canadian Methodist minister (d. 1794)
Georg Hermes (d. 1831)
April 23 – J. M. W. Turner, English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker (d. 1851)
April 25
William Warren Baldwin, Canadian politician (d. 1844)
Alexander Johnston, Sri Lankan judge (d. 1849)
Carlota Joaquina of Spain, Queen consort of Portugal as wife of John VI (d. 1830)
April 27 – Pietro Ostini, Catholic cardinal (d. 1849)
April 28
Loftus William Otway, British Napoleonic Wars general (d. 1835)
William Capel, Sportsman and clergyman (d. 1854)
April 30
Guillaume Dode de la Brunerie, Marshal of France (d. 1851)
Calvin Fillmore, American politician (d. 1865)
May 5
Alexander McNair, American politician (d. 1826)
Pablo Morillo, Spanish general (d. 1837)
Johann Christoph Friedrich Klug, German entomologist (d. 1856)
May 6
Hans Henrich Maschmann, Pharmacist (d. 1860)
Mary Martha Sherwood, author (d. 1851)
May 8 – George Gwilt the younger, Architect (d. 1856)
May 10
Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle, French cavalry general during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (d. 1809)
William Phillips, English mineralogist and geologist (d. 1828)
May 12 – George Whitmore, British Army general (d. 1862)
May 14 – Micah Brooks, United States general (d. 1857)
May 17
Sir John Beckett, 2nd Baronet, British politician (d. 1847)
Daniel LeRoy, Attorney General for the Michigan Territory (d. 1858)
May 19 – Antonín Jan Jungmann, Czech physician (d. 1854)
May 21 – Lucien Bonaparte, French statesman (d. 1840)
May 24
Matthew Whitworth-Aylmer, 5th Baron Aylmer, British Army general (d. 1850)
Sir Charles Ogle, 2nd Baronet, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1858)
May 25 – Pelagio Palagi, Italian painter (d. 1860)
May 28 – Thomas Graves, 2nd Baron Graves, British politician (d. 1830)
May 31 – Charles Jackson, United States lawyer and jurist (d. 1855)
June 4 – Francesco Molino, Italian guitarist (d. 1847)
June 8 – Henry Boehm, American clergyman and pastor (d. 1875)
June 9 – Georg Friedrich Grotefend, German epigraphist and philologist (d. 1853)
June 10 – James Barbour, American politician (d. 1842)
June 12
Karl Freiherr von Müffling, Prussian field marshal (d. 1851)
Francis Bloodgood (d. 1840)
Johann Baptist Malfatti von Monteregio,Italian-Austrian physician (d. 1859)
June 13 – Antoni Radziwiłł, Polish politician (d. 1833)
June 14 – André Bruno de Frévol de Lacoste, French general of the First Empire (d. 1809)
June 15
Carlo Porta, Italian poet (d. 1821)
Paul Delano (d. 1842)
Elizabeth Benger, English biographer (d. 1827)
June 16 – Judah Touro, American businessman (d. 1854)
June 18 – Orsamus Cook Merrill, American politician (d. 1865)
June 19 – Friedrich August Peter von Colomb, German general (d. 1854)
June 22 – Johannes Flüggé, German botanist and physician (d. 1816)
June 24 – John Kempthorne, English clergyman and hymnwriter (d. 1838)
June 26
Jean-Jacques Desvaux de Saint-Maurice, French general of the Napoleonic Wars (d. 1815)
John Swaine, British artist (d. 1860)
June 29 – Thomas Boyle (d. 1825)
June 30 – William Thompson, Irish philosopher (d. 1833)
July 1 – Cephas Thompson, American artist (d. 1856)
July 2 – Aaron Peasley American button maker (d. 1837)
July 3 – Antoine Philippe, Duke of Montpensier (d. 1807)
July 5 – William Crotch, English composer, organist and artist (d. 1847)
July 8
William Davies, United States federal judge (d. 1829)
Lucy Mack Smith, American religious leader (d. 1856)
July 9 – Matthew Lewis, British politician (d. 1818)
July 11 – Joseph Blanco White (d. 1841)
July 14
Sir Berkeley Guise, 2nd Baronet, British landowner and MP (d. 1834)
Louis Ducis, French painter (d. 1847)
July 15 – Richard Westmacott, British sculptor (d. 1856)
July 17 – Domingo Eyzaguirre, Chilean politician (d. 1854)
July 18 – Karl von Rotteck, German historian (d. 1840)
July 19
Camillo Borghese, 6th Prince of Sulmona (d. 1832)
John Andrew Shulze, American politician (d. 1852)
July 21
George Osborne, 6th Duke of Leeds (d. 1838)
Isaac McKim, American politician (d. 1838)
Edward Heneage, English first-class cricketer (d. 1810)
July 23
Étienne-Louis Malus, French officer (d. 1812)
Eugène François Vidocq, French criminal and private detective agent (d. 1857)
Carl Ludwig Wilhelm Grolman, German jurist (d. 1829)
July 25 – Anna Harrison, First Lady of the United States (d. 1864)
July 27 – Teréz Brunszvik Hungarian noble and pedagogue (d. 1861)
July 28 – Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian, British Army general (d. 1842)
July 31 – Emmanuel Dupaty, French singer and writer (d. 1851)
August 2
José Ángel Lamas, Venezuelan classical musician and composer (d. 1814)
William Henry Ireland, English forger (d. 1835)
August 6
Daniel O'Connell, Ireland's predominant political leader (d. 1847)
Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, eldest son of Charles X of France and (d. 1844)
August 7
Jacob Hoel, Norwegian farmer (d. 1847)
Henriette Lorimier, French portraitist (d. 1854)
Maria Brizzi Giorgi, Italian composer, pianist, and organist (d. 1811)
August 8 – Richard Blakemore, English politician (d. 1855)
August 9 – Jacob Brown, American general (d. 1828)
August 14 – Pieter Adrianus Ossewaarde, Dutch politician (d. 1853)
August 15
Carl Franz Anton Ritter von Schreibers, Austro-Hungarian scientist (d. 1852)
Carlos de España, Spanish general (d. 1839)
August 16
Ebenezer Sage, American politician (d. 1834)
John Carlyle Herbert, American politician (d. 1846)
August 18 – Johann Leonhard Pfaff, Bischof von Fulda (d. 1848)
August 20
George Tucker, American politician (d. 1861)
Franz Dinnendahl, builder of the first German steam engine (d. 1826)
August 22 – August von Vécsey, Austro-Hungarian general (d. 1857)
August 23 – Mark Cubbon (d. 1861)
August 25 – Karl Joseph Hieronymus Windischmann, German philosopher and anthropologist (d. 1839)
August 26 – William Joseph Behr, German publicist and writer (d. 1851)
August 27 – Frederick Graff, hydraulic engineer (d. 1847)
August 28
Sophie Gail, French woman singer and composer (d. 1819)
Antoine Marc Augustin Bertoletti, Italian general (d. 1846)
August 29 – Niels Wulfsberg, Norwegian publisher (d. 1852)
August 31
François de Fossa, French classical guitarist and composer (d. 1849)
Agnes Bulmer, English poet (d. 1836)
September 1 – Honoré Charles Reille, French general, Marshal of France (d. 1860)
September 4 – Jean-François Le Gonidec, Linguist and translator of the bible (d. 1838)
September 6 – Aleksey Greig, Russian admiral (d. 1845)
September 7 – John Jebb, Irish writer (d. 1833)
September 8
John Leyden, Scottish orientalist (d. 1811)
Vasily Orlov-Denisov, Russian general (d. 1843)
September 9 – Francisco Ramón Vicuña, President of Chile (d. 1849)
September 10
John Kidd, English physician, chemist and geologist (d. 1851)
Murray Maxwell, British Royal Navy officer (d. 1831)
September 11 – Narciso Fernández de Heredia, 2nd Count of Heredia-Spínola, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1847)
September 13
Laura Secord, Canadian heroine of the War of 1812 (d. 1868)
Thomas Bayly, American politician (d. 1829)
September 14
Christian Friedrich Schwägrichen, German bryologist (d. 1853)
John H. Hobart, Episcopal bishop of New York (d. 1830)
Joseph Phillimore, Member of the United Kingdom Parliament (d. 1855)
Jean-Louis Burnouf, French philologist and translator (d. 1844)
September 15 – William A. Griswold, American politician (d. 1846)
September 16 – Hermano José Braamcamp de Almeida Castelo Branco, Portuguese nobleman and politician (d. 1846)
September 17
Margrethe Schall, Danish ballerina (d. 1852)
Georges Roffavier, French botanist (d. 1866)
September 19 – José Félix Ribas, hero of the Venezuelan War of Independence (d. 1815)
September 22 – Philip Milledoler, minister and the fifth President of Rutgers College (d. 1852)
September 23 – Jens Christian Berg, Norwegian lawyer and historian (d. 1852)
September 24 – Nathan Heald, officer in the United States Army during the War of 1812 (d. 1832)
September 25 – Pierre Flor, Norwegian politician (d. 1848)
September 26 – James Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam, British peer and Member of Parliament (d. 1845)
September 29
François Michel de Rozière, French Egyptologist (d. 1842)
David McConaughy, fourth president of Washington College (d. 1852)
September 30 – Robert Adrain, Irish-born American mathematician and scientist (d. 1843)
October 6 – Johann Anton André, German composer and music publisher (d. 1842)
October 7 – Ramón Power y Giralt, Puerto Rican politicianand Spanish admiral (d. 1813)
October 9
Sir Alexander Boswell, 1st Baronet, British politician (d. 1822)
Charles Williams-Wynn, British politician (d. 1850)
Lars Johannes Irgens, Norwegian politician (d. 1830)
October 12
Lyman Beecher, Presbyterian minister (d. 1863)
Ludovico Micara, Catholic cardinal (d. 1847)
October 13 – John Wentworth Loring, British Royal Navy admiral (d. 1852)
October 14 – Godfrey Macdonald, 3rd Baron Macdonald of Slate, British general (d. 1832)
October 15
Alberto Lista (d. 1848)
Bernardo Peres da Silva, Governor of Portuguese India (d. 1844)
Bernhard Henrik Crusell, Finnish composer (d. 1838)
October 17 – Ole Paulssøn Haagenstad, Norwegian politician (d. 1866)
October 18
Dawson Turner, English banker and botanist (d. 1858)
John Vanderlyn, American artist (d. 1852)
October 19
Kamma Rahbek, Danish salon holder (d. 1829)
Jean-Baptiste Faribault, trader with the Indians, early settler in Minnesota (d. 1860)
October 21
Giuseppe Baini, Italian priest, music critic and composer (d. 1844)
Bartholomew Crannell Beardsley, Canadian politician, lawyer and judge (d. 1855)
October 23 – Gottlob Friedrich Thormeyer, German architect (d. 1842)
October 24 – Bahadur Shah II, Mughal emperor (d. 1862)
October 26
Charles Douglas, 3rd Baron Douglas, English cricketer (d. 1848)
Alexander Thom, Scottish surgeon, judge and politician (d. 1858)
Joseph Nightingale, prolific English writer and preacher (d. 1824)
John Maurice Hauke, Polish general (d. 1830)
October 30 – Catterino Cavos, Russian composer (d. 1840)
November 1 – Christian Adolph Diriks, Norwegian lawyer and statesman (d. 1837)
November 2 – Jeromus Johnson, American politician (d. 1846)
November 6 – August Wilhelm Hartmann, Danish composer (d. 1850)
November 8
Achille Fontanelli, Italian nationalist and Napoleonic general (d. 1838)
Jacob Peter Mynster, Danish theologian and Bishop of Zealand (d. 1854)
November 9 – Daniel Waldron, American businessman (d. 1821)
November 10 – James Elliot, American politician (d. 1839)
November 13
John Burns, surgeon (d. 1850)
Rémi Joseph Isidore Exelmans, distinguished French soldier of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (d. 1852)
November 14 – Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach, German legal scholar (d. 1833)
November 15 – James Carnahan, American clergyman and educator, ninth President of Princeton University (d. 1859)
November 19 – Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger, German biologist (d. 1813)
November 21
George Kremer, American politician (d. 1854)
Josef Servas d'Outrepont (d. 1845)
November 23
Clemens Wenzeslaus Coudray, German architect (d. 1845)
Maria Anna of Naples and Sicily, member of the French Royal Family (d. 1780)
November 25
Joseph Borremans, Belgian composer (d. 1858)
Jean Baptiste Godart, French entomologist (d. 1825)
Michel Étienne Descourtilz, French physician, botanist and historiographer of the Haitian revolution (d. 1835)
Charles Kemble, British actor (d. 1854)
November 27 – Lauritz Weidemann, Norwegian politician (d. 1856)
November 28
William Frere, English lawyer and academic (d. 1836)
Jean-Charles Létourneau, Canadian politician (d. 1838)
December 5 – Abijah Bigelow, American politician (d. 1860)
December 6
Sir Charles Blunt, 4th Baronet, British Member of Parliament (d. 1840)
Nicolas Isouard, Maltese composer (d. 1818)
December 10
Giacomo Filippo Fransoni, Catholic cardinal (d. 1856)
José María de la Cueva, 14th Duke of Albuquerque, Spanish general and ambassador (d. 1811)
Jacques-Antoine Manuel, French lawyer (d. 1827)
December 11 – Peter Little, American politician (d. 1830)
December 13 – Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel the Younger (d. 1843)
December 14
Philander Chase, Episcopal Church bishop, educator, and pioneer (d. 1852)
Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1860)
December 15 – Phineas Riall, British Army general (d. 1850)
December 16
Jane Austen, English novelist (d. 1817)
Ciro Annunchiarico, Italian cult leader (d. 1817)
François-Adrien Boïeldieu, French composer (d. 1834)
December 17 – Carlo Rossi, Russian architect (d. 1849)
December 20 – Samuel Farrow, American politician (d. 1824)
December 25
Peter Reesor, Mennonite (d. 1854)
Antun Sorkočević, Croatian composer, writer and diplomat (d. 1841)
John Fitzgerald, British Member of Parliament (d. 1852)
December 28
Pierre François Étienne Bouvet de Maisonneuve, French admiral (d. 1860)
João Domingos Bomtempo, Portuguese musician (d. 1842)
Jean-Gabriel Eynard, Swiss banker (d. 1863)
undated - Ching Shih, Chinese pirate (d. 1844)
January 8 – John Baskerville, English printer (b. 1706)
January 13 – Johann Georg Walch, German theologian (b. 1693)
February 5 – Eusebius Amort, German Catholic theologian (b. 1692)
February 6 – William Dowdeswell, English politician (b. 1721)
February 15 – Peter Dens, Belgian Catholic theologian (b. 1690)
April 27 – Col. Thomas Gardner, political figure and heroic soldier (b. 1724)
May 10 – Marie Magdalene Charlotte Ackermann, German actress (b. 1757)
June 17
Major John Pitcairn, British marine (killed in battle) (b. 1722)
Joseph Warren, American Patriot and physician (b. 1741)
June 23 – Karl Ludwig von Pöllnitz, German adventurer and writer (b. 1692)
July 11 – Simon Boerum, American Continental Congressman (b. 1724)
August 27 – James Burgh, British Whig politician and writer (b. 1714)
September 6 – Jean-Baptiste Bullet, French writer (b. 1669)
September 16 – Allen Bathurst, 1st Earl Bathurst, English privy councillor (b. 1684)
October 2 – Fukuda Chiyo-ni, Japanese poet (b. 1703)
October 18 – Christian August Crusius, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1715)
October 21 – Peyton Randolph, American President of the Continental Congress (b. 1721)
November 9 – Francisco Ximenes de Texada, 69th Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (b. 1703)
November 21 – John Hill, English writer
November 24 – Lorenzo Ricci, Italian Jesuit leader (b. 1703)
December 7 – Charles Saunders, British admiral
December 31 – Richard Montgomery, American general (killed in battle) (b. 1738)
date unknown – Barbe de Nettine, politically influential banker (b. 1706)
