Public Figures & Cultural Luminaries

John Paul Jones (Father of the US Navy)

John Paul Jones

Kingdom of Great Britain (Scotland)

1747 – 1792 (45 years old)

Scottish-American naval captain venerated as the 'Father of the United States Navy' who raided British home waters and uttered 'I have not yet begun to fight!'

Annapolis (Maryland), United States

3 Full Record →

6

Sir Joshua Reynolds

Joshua Reynolds

Kingdom of Great Britain

1723 – 1792 (68 years old)

First President of the Royal Academy of Arts whose 'Discourses on Art' championed the 'Grand Style' and who elevated British portraiture to heroic neoclassical dignity.

London, United Kingdom

6 Full Record →

Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart

Resistance & Human Rights

10

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Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Austria

27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791 (35 years old)

Transcendent child prodigy and supreme musical genius whose unmatched elegance, dramatic psychology, and melodic perfection across over 600 works—including Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, and the Requiem—define the peak of Classical music.

Vienna, Archduchy of Austria

10 Full Record →

Statesmanship & Statesmen

Dutty Boukman

🌐 West Indies

c. 1767 – 1791 (24 years old)

Enslaved Jamaican-born Vodou priest and maroon leader who presided over the historic ceremony at Bois Caiman on August 14, 1791, delivering the immortal prayer that ignited the Haitian Revolution.

Morne Rouge (Nord), Haiti

3 Full Record →

Religious Figures & Theologians

Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin

Григорий Александрович Потёмкин-Таврический

Russian Empire

1739 – 1791 (52 years old)

Russian military leader, statesman, and favorite of Catherine the Great who annexed Crimea, founded Sevastopol and the Black Sea Fleet, and developed Novorossiya.

Kherson, Ukraine

3 Full Record →

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

John Wesley

Kingdom of England

1703 – 1791 (87 years old)

English cleric and theologian whose Aldersgate experience, open-air preaching, and Holy Club founded the worldwide Methodist movement and transformed 18th-century British society.

London, United Kingdom

5 Full Record →

Sciences & Discovery

13

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Benjamin Franklin

United States

17 January 1706 – 17 April 1790 (84 years old)

Founding Father and polymath who proved that lightning is electrical through his famous kite experiment, formulated the conservation of electric charge, and invented the lightning rod and bifocal glasses.

Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), United States

13 Full Record →

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

Mohammed III of Morocco

محمد الثالث بن عبد الله

🌐 Sultanate of Morocco

c. 1710 – 1790 (80 years old)

Enlightened Alaouite Sultan of Morocco who modernized foreign diplomacy, founded the Atlantic port of Essaouira in 1764, and made Morocco the very first country in the world to officially recognize the independence of the United States in 1777.

Rabat, Morocco

5 Full Record →

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph Benedikt August Johann Anton Michael Adam

Habsburg Monarchy (Austria)

1741 – 1790 (48 years old)

Radical Enlightened Despot of Austria who abolished serfdom, instituted complete religious tolerance, and patronized Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Vienna, Austria

5 Full Record →

Monarchs, Kings & Royalty

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Saxe-Weimar

1714 – 1788 (74 years old)

Second surviving son of J.S. Bach, court harpsichordist to Frederick the Great, pioneer of the dramatic Empfindsamer Stil, and primary musical influence on Haydn and Mozart.

Hamburg, Free Imperial City of Hamburg

3 Full Record →

Charles III of Spain

Carlos III de España (El Político / El Ilustrado)

Kingdom of Spain

1716 – 1788 (72 years old)

Enlightened Bourbon monarch of Spain who modernized Madrid, patronized science, and implemented the Bourbon administrative reforms.

San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid, Spain

3 Full Record →

4

Religious Figures & Theologians

Thomas Gainsborough

Kingdom of Great Britain

1727 – 1788 (61 years old)

Founding member of the Royal Academy and master portraitist whose 'The Blue Boy' and lyrical landscapes captured British elegance with feathery brushstrokes and natural ease.

London, United Kingdom

4 Full Record →

4

Military Leaders & Strategists

Charles Wesley

Kingdom of England

1707 – 1788 (80 years old)

Prolific English hymnographer and co-founder of Methodism who penned over 6,500 hymns, including 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing', 'And Can It Be', and 'Love Divine, All Loves Excelling'.

London, United Kingdom

4 Full Record →

François Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse

François-Joseph Paul, comte de Grasse

Kingdom of France

1722 – 1788 (65 years old)

French naval admiral whose victory over the British Royal Navy at the Battle of the Chesapeake sealed the fate of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown.

Paris, France

5 Full Record →

Military Leaders & Strategists

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Christoph Willibald Gluck

Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck

Germany

1714 – 1787 (73 years old)

Bohemian-German composer who reformed classical opera, subordinating vocal display to dramatic truth and theatrical unity.

Vienna, Austria

2,474 Full Record →

Major General Nathanael Greene

Nathanael Greene

Thirteen Colonies (British America)

1742 – 1786 (43 years old)

Major General of the Continental Army and George Washington's most talented military strategist whose Southern Campaign of attrition wore out Cornwallis.

Savannah (Georgia), United States

3 Full Record →

Philosophy & Thought