1884 in France
Events from the year 1884 in France.
Incumbents
Events
- 7 March – Eugène Poubelle introduces the dustbin to Paris.
- June – At Bắc Lệ, Chinese forces attack a French column sent to occupy Tonkin in accordance with earlier treaties, starting the Sino-French War.
- 6 June – Treaty of Hué is signed between representatives of Vietnam and the French Empire.
- 29 July – Société des Artistes Indépendants is founded in Paris.
- 23 August – Battle of Fuzhou: Admiral Amédée Courbet's Far East Squadron virtually destroys China's Fujian Fleet.
- 1 October – French begin occupation of Keelung.
- 23 November – Siege of Tuyên Quang begins in Indochina: The French Foreign Legion is besieged by forces of the Empire of China.
Literature
- Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly - Ce qui ne meurt pas
- Alphonse Daudet - Sappho
- Joris-Karl Huysmans - À rebours
- Xavier de Montépin - La porteuse de pain
- Rachilde - Monsieur Vénus
- Jules Verne
- * L'Archipel en feu
- * L'Étoile du sud
- Émile Zola - ''La joie de vivre''
Births
January to June
- 5 January – Arnaud Denjoy, mathematician
- 7 February – Achille Liénart, Cardinal
- 24 March – Eugène-Gabriel-Gervais-Laurent Tisserant, Cardinal
- 26 March – Paul Legentilhomme, military officer
- 31 March – Henri Queuille, Radical-Socialist politician and Prime Minister of France
- 5 May – Jean Decoux, Governor-General of French Indochina
- 13 June – Étienne Gilson, Thomistic philosopher and historian of philosophy
- 18 June – Édouard Daladier, Radical-Socialist politician and Prime Minister of France
- 19 June – Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, writer and artist
- 27 June – Gaston Bachelard, philosopher
- 30 June – Georges Duhamel, author
July to December
- 4 July – Pauline Carton, actress
- 7 July – André Dunoyer de Segonzac, painter and graphic artist
- 10 July – Pierre Larquey, actor
- 12 July – Edgar Stehli, French-born American actor
- 3 August – Georges Boillot, motor racing driver and World War I fighter pilot
- 25 August – Léon Poirier, film director, screenwriter and film producer
- 27 August – Vincent Auriol, politician, President of France
- 4 September – Henri Meslot, athlete
- 24 September – Gustave Garrigou, cyclist, 1911 Tour de France winner
- 25 September – Rita Jolivet, American-born actress
- 4 October – Félix Gouin, politician
- 27 October – André Le Troquer, politician and lawyer
- 2 December – Jean Paulhan, writer, literary critic and publisher
Full date unknown
- Jacques Maroger, painter
Deaths
- 3 February – Eugène Rouher, statesman
- 4 April – Adolphe Dugléré, chef
- 10 April – Jean-Baptiste Dumas, chemist
- 6 May
- * Judah P. Benjamin, American-born Jewish United States Senator from Louisiana from 1853 to 1861
- * Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, Jew who became a Jesuit Catholic priest and missionary
- 10 September – Jean-Augustin Barral, agronomist
- 13 December – Eugène Pelletan, writer, journalist and politician