Famous people born on 19 January

• Edgar Allan PoeAmerican writer and literary critic · 1809–1849
  40 yrs
• James WattBritish engineer · 1736–1819
  83 yrs
• Paul CézanneFrench painter · 1839–1906
  67 yrs
• Auguste ComteFrench philosopher, mathematician and sociologist · 1798–1857
  59 yrs
• Robert E. LeeConfederate States general · 1807–1870
  63 yrs
• Janis JoplinAmerican singer · 1943–1970
  27 yrs
• Gregory XVPope of the Catholic Church from 1621 to 1623 · 1554–1623
  69 yrs
• Javier Pérez de Cuéllar5th Secretary-General of the United Nations · 1920–2020
  100 yrs
• Leonid KantorovichRussian mathematician · 1912–1986
  74 yrs
• Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre ↗Writer and botanist from France · 1737–1814
  77 yrs
• Patricia Highsmith ↗American novelist and short story writer · 1921–1995
  74 yrs
• Gustav Meyrink ↗Austrian writer and translator · 1868–1932
  64 yrs
• Valentin Serov ↗Russian painter · 1865–1911
  46 yrs
• Werner Sombart ↗German economist, sociologist, historian · 1863–1941
  78 yrs
• Ziaur Rahman ↗Chief of Army Staff and President of Bangladesh · 1936–1981
  45 yrs
• Johann Elert Bode ↗Prusian astronomer · 1747–1826
  79 yrs
• Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy ↗Austrian archduchess and regent of the Netherlands · 1480–1530
  50 yrs
• Henry Bessemer ↗British engineer · 1813–1898
  85 yrs
• Paolo Borsellino ↗Italian magistrate killed by the Mafia · 1940–1992
  52 yrs
• Princess Birgitta of Sweden ↗Swedish princess (1937-2024); elder sister of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden · 1937–2024
  87 yrs
• Jacobus Kapteyn ↗Dutch astronomer, best known for his extensive studies of the Milky Way and as the first discoverer of evidence for galactic rotation · 1851–1922
  71 yrs
• Markus Wolf ↗Head of the East German foreign intelligence service during the Cold War · 1923–2006
  83 yrs
• Tikhon of Moscow ↗Patriarch of Moscow · 1865–1925
  60 yrs
• David Starr Jordan ↗American ichthyologist and educator · 1851–1931
  80 yrs
• Miguel Muñoz ↗Spanish association football player and manager · 1922–1990
  68 yrs
• Herbert Chapman ↗English association football player and manager · 1878–1934
  55 yrs
• Jerzy Kawalerowicz ↗Polish film director and screenwriter · 1922–2007
  85 yrs

Only people with a known day of birth are listed, and only people who have died. Dates are from Wikidata (CC0), last updated 22 October 2026.

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