Year (''' MDCCLXXVIII ''') was a Common Year Starting On Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Year Starting On Monday of the 11-day slower Julian Calendar ).
''': The Battle Of Monmouth .]]
- January 3 - Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski , Polish bishop (d. 1861 )
- February 22 - Rembrandt Peale , American artist (d. 1860 )
- March 19 - Edward Pakenham , British general (d. 1815 )
- April 10 - William Hazlitt , English essayist (d. 1830 )
- May 18 - Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess Of Londonderry , British politician (d. 1854 )
- August 11 - Friedrich Ludwig Jahn , German patriot (d. 1852 )
- September 8 - Clemens Brentano , German poet (d. 1842 )
- September 19 - Henry Peter Brougham , Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (d. 1868 )
- November 1 - Gustav IV Adolf Of Sweden (d. 1837 )
- November 25 - Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck , British Christian writer (d. 1856 )
- December 17 - Sir Humphry Davy , English chemist (d. 1829 )
- December 19 - Marie Thérèse Charlotte (d. 1851 )
- December 28 - Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki , Polish politician (d. 1846 )
: ''See also .''
- January 10 - Carolus Linnaeus , Swedish botanist (b. 1707 )
- February 18 - Joseph Marie Terray , French statesman (b. 1715 )
- February 20 - Laura Bassi , Italian scholar (b. 1711 )
- March 5 - Thomas Augustine Arne , English composer of "Rule, Britannia!" (b. 1710 )
- March 7 - Charles De Geer , Swedish industrialist and entomologist (b. 1720 )
- March 13 - Charles Le Beau , French historian (b. 1701 )
- April 22 - James Hargreaves , English weaver, carpenter, and inventor (b. 1720 )
- May 11 - William Pitt, 1st Earl Of Chatham , Prime Minister Of The United Kingdom (b. 1708 )
- May 16 - Robert Darcy, 4th Earl Of Holderness , English diplomat and politician (b. 1718 )
- May 30 - Voltaire , French philosopher (b. 1694 )
- June 12 - Philip Livingston , American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1716 )
- June 16 - Konrad Ekhof , German actor (b. 1720 )
- June 24 - Pieter Burmann The Younger , Dutch philologist (b. 1714 )
- July 2 - Jean-Jacques Rousseau , Swiss philosopher (b. 1712 )
- July 2 - Bathsheba Ruggles , American murderer (b. 1746 ?)
- July 5 - James Townley , English dramatist (b. 1714 )
- August 5 - Charles Clémencet , French historian (b. 1703 )
- August 12 - Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke Of Ancaster And Kesteven , British general and politician (b. 1714 )
- November 9 - Giovanni Battista Piranesi , Italian artist (b. 1720 )
- November 20 - Francesco Cetti , Italian Jesuit scientist (b. 1726 )
- ''date unknown'' - Thomas Johnson (designer) , furniture maker (b. 1714 )
: ''See also .''
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