1861 in Belgium
Events in the year 1861 in Belgium.
Events
;January- 1 January – Franco-Belgian Tirailleurs renamed Papal Zouaves.
- 7 February – François Robyn sentenced to death at the Court of assizes in Mons for arson at Scourmont Priory the previous October.
- 1 May – Commercial treaty with France modelled on the Anglo-French commercial treaty of 1860.
- 19 May – Association "Vlamingen Vooruit!" organises mass meeting in Brussels
- 27 May – Commercial treaty with France ratified.
- 1 June – Commercial treaty with France comes into effect.
- 11 June – Partial legislative elections of 1861
- 20 July – Signing of Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation between Belgium and Mexico negotiated by Auguste t'Kint.
- 1 October – Commercial treaty between Britain, France and Belgium comes into effect.
- 10 October – Commercial treaty with the Ottoman Empire signed at Constantinople by Gaston Errembault de Dudzeele for Belgium and by Esad Safvet and Mohammed Djemil for the Sublime Porte.
Publications
;PeriodicalsAnnuaire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 27 La Belgique Horticole, vol. 11.Bulletin de la Fédération des Sociétés d'HorticultureBulletin Usuel des Lois et Arrêtés, 1539–1813 Collection de précis historiques, vol. 10, edited by Edouard Terwecoren S.J.La Tribune du peuple begins publicationRevue belge et étrangère, 12Het Vlaemsch Verbond begins publication;Reports and pamphletsBulletin administratif du Ministère de l'Intérieur, series 1, vol. 1.Recueil des lois et arrêtés royaux de Belgique, vol. 48
- Charles Le Hardy de Beaulieu, L'Espagne et son avenir commercial: Des relations à créer entre la Belgique et l'Espagne
- Adolphe Borgnet, Histoire des Belges à la fin du XVIIIe siècle
- Charles De Coster, Contes brabançons
- Gustave Oppelt, Histoire générale et chronologique de la Belgique, de 1830 à 1860
- Auguste Scheler, Trente années de la littérature belge
- J.L.D. Sleeckx, Beschryving der Provincie Braband
- William Henry James Weale, Notes sur Jean van Eyck
- Barthélemy-Antoine Bauwens, Le plain-chant mis à la portée de tout le monde
- Henri Vieuxtemps, ''Violin Concerto No. 5''
Births
- Elisabeth Wesmael, graphic artist
- 6 January – Victor Horta, architect
- 11 March – Francis Dhanis, colonial administrator
- 2 April – Ernest van Dyck, singer
- 20 April – Arthur Van Gehuchten, anatomist
- 5 July – Fernand Cocq, politician
- 12 July – Eugène Broerman, painter
- 13 August – Fernand Brouez, magazine publisher
- 16 August – Diana Coomans, painter
- 27 August – Aloïs de Beule, sculptor
- 1 September – Louis Bernheim, general
- 3 September – Ursmer Berlière, historian
- 9 October – Privat Livemont, artist
- 21 October – Charles van Lerberghe, poet
- 3 November – Louis Ruquoy, soldier
- 6 November – Germain Morin, patrologist
- 10 December – Guillaume Van Strydonck, painter
Deaths
- 5 April – Ferdinand de Meeûs, politician
- 8 April – Édouard Wacken, poet and dramatist
- 24 September – Michael Joseph François Scheidweiler, horticulturalist
- 27 October – Marcellin Jobard, photographer
- 3 December – Henry Voordecker, painter
- 25 December – Jacobus Josephus Eeckhout, painter