| 541 | January 1 | Death | 1759 – Jacques-Joachim Trotti, marquis de La Chétardie, French diplomat (b. 1705) |
| 542 | January 1 | Death | 1766 – James Francis Edward Stuart, English son of James II of England (b. 1688) |
| 543 | January 1 | Death | 1782 – Johann Christian Bach, German composer (b. 1735) |
| 544 | January 1 | Death | 1789 – Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English lawyer and politician, British Speaker of the House of Commons (b. 1716) |
| 545 | January 1 | Death | 1793 – Francesco Guardi, Venetian painter (b. 1712) |
| 546 | January 1 | Death | 1796 – Alexandre-Théophile Vandermonde, French mathematician and chemist (b. 1735) |
| 547 | January 1 | Death | 1817 – Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist and academic (b. 1743) |
| 548 | January 1 | Death | 1846 – John Torrington, English soldier and explorer (b. 1825) |
| 549 | January 1 | Death | 1853 – Gregory Blaxland, Australian farmer and explorer (b. 1778) |
| 550 | January 1 | Death | 1862 – Mikhail Ostrogradsky, Ukrainian mathematician and physicist (b. 1801) |
| 551 | January 1 | Death | 1881 – Louis Auguste Blanqui, French activist (b. 1805) |
| 552 | January 1 | Death | 1892 – Roswell B. Mason, American politician, 25th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805) |
| 553 | January 1 | Death | 1894 – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist and academic (b. 1857) |
| 554 | January 1 | Death | 1896 – Alfred Ely Beach, American publisher and lawyer, created the Beach Pneumatic Transit (b. 1826) |
| 555 | January 1 | Death | 1906 – Hugh Nelson, Scottish-Australian politician, 11th Premier of Queensland (b. 1835) |
| 556 | January 1 | Death | 1918 – William Wilfred Campbell, Canadian poet and author (b. 1858) |
| 557 | January 1 | Death | 1919 – Mikhail Drozdovsky, Russian general (b. 1881) |
| 558 | January 1 | Death | 1921 – Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, German politician, 5th Chancellor of Germany (b. 1856) |
| 559 | January 1 | Death | 1922 – István Kühár, Slovene priest and politician (b. 1887) |
| 560 | January 1 | Death | 1931 – Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (b. 1851) |
| 561 | January 1 | Death | 1940 – Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao, Indian author and educator (b. 1865) |
| 562 | January 1 | Death | 1944 – Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (b. 1862) |
| 563 | January 1 | Death | 1944 – Edwin Lutyens, English architect, designed the Castle Drogo and Thiepval Memorial (b. 1869) |
| 564 | January 1 | Death | 1953 – Hank Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Drifting Cowboys) (b. 1923) |
| 565 | January 1 | Death | 1954 – Duff Cooper, English politician and diplomat, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1890) |
| 566 | January 1 | Death | 1954 – Leonard Bacon, American poet and critic (b. 1887) |
| 567 | January 1 | Death | 1955 – Arthur C. Parker, American archaeologist and historian (b. 1881) |
| 568 | January 1 | Death | 1955 – Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, Indian chemist and academic (b. 1894) |
| 569 | January 1 | Death | 1957 – Seán South, Irish Republican Army volunteer (b. 1928) |
| 570 | January 1 | Death | 1957 – Fergal O'Hanlon, Irish Republican Army volunteer (b. 1936) |