1865 in Belgium

Events

• 16 March – Belgian state guarantees private savings.

• 4 April – Opposition parties accuse government of breaching Belgian neutrality by involving the country in the Second French intervention in Mexico.

• 1 May – Henricus Franciscus Bracq consecrated as bishop of Ghent
• 22 May — Commercial treaty with the German Customs Union signed in Berlin.
• 26 May – 1863–75 cholera pandemic caused 45,000 fatalities in Belgium in 1865.

• 16 July – Belgian Legion wins Battle of la Loma in Mexico.

• 21 August — Law on tariffs and customs reform published.

• 23 September – Brussels city council approves plans for the covering of the Senne.

• 2 October – Sint-Lievenscollege founded in Ghent

• 2 November – Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation between China and Belgium, negotiated by Auguste t'Kint, signed in Beijing.
• 14 November – Jules Bara succeeds Victor Tesch as Minister of Justice.

• 10 December – Death of King Leopold I of Belgium.
• 16 December – Leopold I of Belgium buried in Laken, despite his wish to be buried in Windsor; Auguste t'Kint arrives in Yokohama as the first Belgian diplomat in Japan.
• 17 December – Leopold II of Belgium sworn in as King.
• 23 December — Convention between France, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland forming the Latin Monetary Union signed in Paris.

Publications

• Almanach royal officiel
• Analectes pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique de la Belgique, vol. 2, edited by P. F. X. de Ram.
• Annales de la Société d'émulation pour l'étude de l'histoire et des antiquités de la Flandre, 2nd series, vol. 13
• Annuaire de l'Université catholique de Louvain, vol. 29 Collection de précis historiques, vol. 14, edited by Edouard Terwecoren S.J.La Liberté begins publication.Revue Générale begins publication.Rond den Heerd begins publication.

• Émile de Borchgrave, Histoire des colonies belges, qui s'établirent en Allemagne pendant le XIIe et le XIIIe siècle
• Joseph Jean De Smet, Recueil des chroniques de Flandre, vol. 4
• Joseph Jean De Smet, Mémoire historique sur la guerre de Maximilien, roi des Romains, contre les villes de Flandre – a study of the Flemish revolts against Maximilian of Austria.
• Paul Henrard, Histoire de l'artillerie en Belgique depuis son origine jusqu'au règne d'Albert et d'Isabelle
• Alphonse O'Kelly de Galway, Dictionnaire des cris d'armes et devises des personnages célèbres et des familles nobles et autres de la Belgique ancienne et moderne

• Hendrik Conscience, ''De Burgemeester van Luik''

Art and architecture

• Arlon Synagogue completed.

• Henri Leys, ''Lucie Leys''

Science

• Louis Melsens receives Montyon Prize for his work on the use of potassium iodide to treat mercury poisoning and lead poisoning.

Balance of trade

Births

• Date uncertain – Joseph Middeleer, painter
• 19 January – Égide Rombaux, sculptor
• 27 January – Ferdinand Feyerick, fencer
• 30 January – Marie de Bièvre, painter
• 25 February – Flavie Van den Hende, cellist
• 2 March – Théo Ysaÿe, composer
• 7 March – Jean Massart, botanist
• 2 April – Louise Danse, painter
• 4 April – Clément Van Bogaert, engineer
• 1 May – Frans Mortelmans, painter
• 4 May – Servais Le Roy, entertainer
• 9 May – August de Boeck, composer
• 21 May – Evert Larock, painter
• 6 June – Antoon Jozef Witteryck, publisher
• 15 June – Paul Gilson, composer
• 14 July – Marguerite Verboeckhoven, painter
• 11 December – Édouard Poncelet, archivist

Deaths

• 3 January – Joseph Lies, painter
• 5 January – Pierre Kersten, publisher
• 14 January – Marie-Anne Libert, botanist
• 19 March – Joseph Lebeau, politician
• 26 April – Charles-Joseph Sax musical instrument maker
• 14 May – Pierre François Xavier de Ram, historian
• 18 June – Antoine Wiertz, painter
• 12 July – Constant de Kerchove de Denterghem, politician
• 23 July – Frans Alfons Janssens, priest-scientist