List of Famous people who died in 1905

Count Soejima Taneomi was a diplomat and statesman during early Meiji period Japan.

Alois Riegl was an Austrian art historian, and is considered a member of the Vienna School of Art History. He was one of the major figures in the establishment of art history as a self-sufficient academic discipline, and one of the most influential practitioners of formalism.

Violet Fane is the literary pseudonym of Lady Mary Montgomerie Currie. A poet, a writer, and later an ambassadress, who was active in the British literary scene from 1872 until her death in 1905, Fane was a literary celebrity associated with Aestheticism, Medievalism, whose verses were occasionally set to music by famous composers such as Paolo Tosti. As a well-known figure in London society, Fane's coterie included famous literary personas such as Robert Browning, Algernon Swinburne, A. W. Kinglake, Alfred Austin, James McNeil Whistler, Lillie Langtry, and Oscar Wilde, who praised the oracular bent of Fane's opinions on 'the relation of art to nature' by saying that she ‘live[d] between Parnassus and Piccadilly’.

William Forbes-Sempill, 17th Lord Sempill, born William Forbes, was a Scottish peer, the 17th Lord Sempill and 8th Baronet of Craigievar.

Colonel Francis William Rhodes is perhaps the best known member of the Rhodes family after his brother Cecil. Trained as a soldier from his youth, he participated in a considerable amount of conflict in different parts of the world. After graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, he joined the 1st Royal Dragoons in 1873 and served the British Army for 23 years. He participated in the Sudan Campaign, accompanied the Nile Expedition to Khartoum in the abortive effort to relieve General Charles George Gordon, and was present at the battles of El Teb and Tamai. At the Battle of Abu Klea, he distinguished himself when he had several horses shot from under him in the course of the engagement. He was awarded several medals and clasps, including the Distinguished Service Order.

Francis John Portman played first-class cricket for Somerset in 1897 and 1899. He was born at Corton Denham, Somerset and died at Ajmer, India.

William Thomas Blanford was an English geologist and naturalist. He is best remembered as the editor of a major series on The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma.

George Sewall Boutwell was an American politician, lawyer, and statesman from Massachusetts. He served as Secretary of the Treasury under U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, the 20th Governor of Massachusetts, a Senator and Representative from Massachusetts and the first Commissioner of Internal Revenue under U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. He was a leader in the impeachment of U.S. President Andrew Johnson, and served as a House manager (prosecutor) in the impeachment trial.

Oreste Sindici was an Italian-born Colombian musician and composer. He composed the music for the Colombian national anthem in 1887.