• Monarch – Christian IX^[1]
• Prime minister – C. E. Frijs (until 28 May), Ludvig Holstein-Holsteinborg

• 17 May – The turreted ironclad Gorm is launched from the Naval Dockyard in Copenhagen.^[2]
• 28 May – Prime Minister C. E. Frijs resigns, and is replaced by Ludvig Holstein-Holsteinborg.
• 26 September – Prince Christian, the future King Christian X, is born to Crown Prince Frederick and Crown Princess Louise.
• September/October – The literary fairy tale "The Most Incredible Thing", by poet and author Hans Christian Andersen, is published in the United States and Denmark.^[3]
• 4 October – The railway line South Line (Sydbanen), between Roskilde and Vordingborg by way of Køge and Næstved, is opened.
• 2 November – The Vestre Cemetery in Copenhagen is opened.^[4]

Date unknown edit

• The Hansen Writing Ball is first patented and entered into production.
• Rosenfeldt Manor, just west of Vordingborg, is completed.^[5]
• Sundby Church in Copenhagen is completed.^[6]
• The political party Venstre is founded.^[7]

• 7 January – Anna Syberg, painter, one of the "Funen Painters" (died 1914)
• 15 January – Johan Peter Koch, captain and arctic explorer (died 1928)
• 18 February
  • August Busck, Danish-American entomologist and author of works on microlepidoptera (died 1944)
  • Thorvald Madsen, physician and bacteriologist (died 1957)
• 9 April
  • Arild Rosenkrantz, nobleman, painter, sculptor, stained-glass artist and illustrator (died 1964)
  • Albrecht Schmidt, film actor (died 1945)
• 24 July – Holger Damgaard, Denmark's first press photographer (died 1945)
• 25 July – Peter Rochegune Munch, historian and politician, served in three governments between 1909 and 1940 (died 1948)
• 28 July – Michael Agerskov, spiritualist teacher and author (died 1933)
• 3 August – Peter Jörgensen, entomologist and teacher, active in Argentina and Paraguay (died 1937)
• 26 September – Prince Christian, the future King Christian X (died 1947)^[8]
• 16 October – Helge Rode, writer, critic and journalist (died 1937)
• 25 November – Petrine Sonne, stage and film actress (died 1946)
• 18 December – Anders Randolf, Danish-American actor during the silent film era (died 1930)

• 27 January – Johannes Flintoe, painter of landscapes and scenes from Scandinavian history (born 1787)
• 25 February – Henrik Hertz, poet during the Danish Golden Age (born 1797)
• 6 April – Christen Mikkelsen Kold, teacher who founded a school in Ryslinge, which later became a model for the Danish folk high-school system (born 1816)
• 13 April – Mathias Lüttichau, Danish Minister of War (born 1795)
• 29 April – Niels Laurits Høyen, art historian (Denmark's first) and critic (born 1798)
• 29 May – Emil Horneman, composer and art and music tradesman (born 1809)
• 13 July – Christian Albrecht Jensen, portrait painter during the Danish Golden Age (born 1792)
• 28 August – Søren Hjorth, railway pioneer and inventor (born 1801)
• 13 September – Orla Lehmann, statesman and key figure in the development of Denmark's parliamentary government (born 1810)
• 14 November – Henrik Nikolai Krøyer, zoologist and zoology teacher and textbook author (born 1799)
• 30 November – Poul Pagh, merchant and shipowner (born 1796)
• 5 December – Herman Severin Løvenskiold (born 1815)