1885 in France

Decades:	1860s; 1870s; 1880s; 1890s; 1900s;
See also:	Other events of 1885; History of France • Timeline • Years

Events from the year 1885 in France.

Incumbents

28 February – Siege of Tuyên Quang ends, as French Foreign Legion is relieved after being besieged by forces of the Empire of China.
23 March – Battle of Bang Bo in Vietnam, significant battle of the Sino-French War and French defeat, leading to the Tonkin Affair, a major political crisis.
28 March – French abandon Lạng Sơn.
9 June – Sino-French War ends as treaty is signed.
14 October – Legislative Election held.
18 October – Legislative Election held.

8 January – Charles Basle, American auto racer (died 1962)
22 January – Eugène Christophe, cyclist (died 1970)
28 January – Maurice Brocco, cyclist (died 1965)
1 February – Camille Chautemps, politician, three times Prime Minister of France (died 1963)
3 February – Camille Arambourg, paleontologist (died 1970)
6 March – Yvonne Gall, operatic soprano (died 1972)
16 March – Fernand Baldet, astronomer (died 1964)
23 March – Yves le Prieur, naval officer and inventor (died 1963)
6 April – Jules Goux, motor racing driver (died 1965)
5 June – Georges Mandel, politician and Resistance leader (executed 1944)
15 June – Roland Dorgelès, novelist (died 1973)
27 June – Pierre Montet, Egyptologist (died 1966)

5 July – André Lhote, sculptor and painter (died 1962)^[1]
26 July – André Maurois, author and man of letters (died 1967)
26 August – Jules Romains, poet and writer (died 1972)
31 August – Lucien Chopard, entomologist (died 1971)
15 September – Marcel Allain, writer (died 1970)
11 October – François Mauriac, author, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (died 1970)
25 October – Xavier Lesage, horse rider, Olympic gold medallist (died 1969)^[2]
10 November – Lou Albert-Lasard, painter (died 1969)
23 December – Pierre Brissaud, illustrator, painter and engraver (died 1964)

10 January – Amable Tastu, woman of letters (born 1795).
16 January – Edmond François Valentin About, novelist, publicist and journalist (born 1828)
18 April – Marc Monnier, writer (born 1827)
3 May – Paul-Quentin Desains, physicist (born 1817)
18 May – Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville, painter (born 1835)
22 May – Victor Hugo, poet, playwright, novelist and statesman (born 1802)
June – Amédée Courbet, admiral (born 1828)
29 July – Henri Milne-Edwards, zoologist (born 1800)
17 December – Augustus Thébaud, Jesuit educator and publicist (born 1807)
24 December – Louis Prosper Gachard, man of letters (born 1800)