1883 in France

Incumbents

• President: Jules Grévy
• President of the Council of Ministers:
• * until 29 January: Charles Duclerc
• * 29 January-21 February: Armand Fallières
• * starting 21 February: Jules Ferry

Literature

• Pierre Loti - Mon Frère Yves
• Guy de Maupassant - Une vie
• Jules Verne - Kéraban-le-têtu
• Émile Zola - Au Bonheur des Dames / ''Pot-Bouille''

Events

• 27–28 March – Battle of Gia Cuc, French victory over Vietnamese forces.
• 19 May – Battle of Paper Bridge, French defeat by Black Flag forces.
• 25 August – Treaty of Hué signed between the Nguyễn dynasty Emperor of Viet Nam and the French Empire, recognizing French imperial control over the regions of Annam and Tonkin.
• De Dion-Bouton set up in Paris to manufacture mechanical road vehicles.
• The first purebred Percheron stud book is created.

Births

January to June

• 5 January – Marie-Louise Bouglé, feminist, librarian, and archivist
• 3 February – Camille Bombois, naïve painter
• 18 February – Jacques Ochs, artist, épée and foil fencer and Olympic gold medallist
• 15 May – Maurice Feltin, Cardinal
• 28 June – Pierre Laval, politician and Prime Minister

July to December

• 19 July – Louis Paulhan, pilot
• 25 July – Louis Massignon, scholar and historian of Islam
• 19 August – Coco Chanel, fashion designer
• 14 September – Rose Combe, writer and railway worker
• 14 December – Robert Péguy, film director
• 16 December – Max Linder, actor
• 17 December – Raimu, actor
• 19 December – Abel Bonnard, poet, novelist and politician
• 22 December – Edgard Varèse, composer
• 26 December – Maurice Utrillo, painter

Full date unknown

• Charles Jourdan, fashion designer

Deaths

• 4 January – Antoine Chanzy, general and governor of Algeria
• 23 January – Gustave Doré, artist, engraver, illustrator and sculptor
• 17 February – Napoléon Coste, guitarist and composer
• 24 April – Jules Sandeau, novelist
• 30 April – Édouard Manet, painter
• 5 May – Louis Viardot, writer, art historian and critic, theatrical figure, hispanophile and translator
• 11 May – Juliette Drouet, actress, mistress and secretary of Victor Hugo
• 19 May – Henri Rivière, Naval officer and writer
• 25 May – Édouard René de Laboulaye, jurist
• 20 June – Gustave Aimard, traveller and writer
• 11 August – Edouard Louis Dubufe, painter
• 24 August – Henri, comte de Chambord, Legitimist Pretender to the throne of France
• 6 September – Auguste Arnaud, sculptor
• 29 October – Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose, Cardinal
• 27 November – Charles Théodore Colet, Roman Catholic Archbishop