1885 in France

• President: Jules Grévy • President of the Council of Ministers: Jules Ferry (until 6 April), Henri Brisson (starting 6 April) ==Events==

• 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. • November – First train crosses Garabit viaduct in the Massif Central. ==Literature==

• Guy de Maupassant - Bel-Ami • Jules Verne - Mathias Sandorf • Émile Zola - Germinal ==Births==

January to June • 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) July to December • 5 July – André Lhote, sculptor and painter (died 1962) • 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) • 10 November – Lou Albert-Lasard, painter (died 1969) • 23 December – Pierre Brissaud, illustrator, painter and engraver (died 1964) ==Deaths==

• 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) ==References==