List of Famous people who died in 1956

Shyam Nandan Sahay was an Indian landlord, educationist, legislator and the founder vice chancellor of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar Bihar University. Born in the Indian state of Bihar, he also served as the vice chancellor of Patna University. He was a member of the 1st Lok Sabha, elected from Muzaffarpur Central constituency on Indian National Congress candidature. He won from Muzaffarpur again in 1957 but died in the same year. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan, in 1957, for his contributions to education. A road in Muzaffarpur is named after him.

Robert Mearns Yerkes was an American psychologist, ethologist, eugenicist and primatologist best known for his work in intelligence testing and in the field of comparative psychology.

Walt Faulkner was an American racing driver from Tell, Texas. He moved to Milledgeville, Georgia at the age of two-and-a-half, and to Lake Wales, Florida at the age of eight. He then moved to Los Angeles, California in 1936. Faulkner competed mainly in the National Championship and in stock car races. In 1950 Faulkner became the first rookie to win pole position at the Indianapolis 500. He died in 1956 after a qualifying crash at a USAC Stock Car event in Vallejo, California.

Hilda Mary Isabel Petrie was an Irish-born British Egyptologist and wife of Flinders Petrie, the father of scientific archaeology. Having studied geology, she was hired by Flinders Petrie at age 25 as an artist, which led to their marriage and a working partnership that endured for their lifetimes. Hilda travelled and worked with Flinders Petrie to excavate and record numerous sites in Egypt, and later in Palestine. This included directing some excavations herself, and working in often difficult and dangerous conditions to produce copies of tomb hieroglyphs and plans, and to record the work for reports to the Egypt Exploration Fund. When the British School of Archaeology in Egypt was founded in 1905 in London by Flinders Petrie, she worked as its secretary and fundraiser to secure support for the school and their continued excavations. Hilda took part in archaeological excavations and surveys throughout her married life, except for a period while their two children were young. Her work was published, and she also gave public lectures in London and elsewhere.

Isham Edgar Jones was an American bandleader, saxophonist, bassist and songwriter.