Events from the year 1885 in France.
Incumbents
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. Led 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.
Births
January to June
8 January – Charles Basle, motor racing driver (died 1962) 22 January – Eugène Christophe, cyclist (died 1970) 28 January – Maurice Brocco, cyclist (died 1965) 1 February – Camille Chautemps, politician and three times Prime Minister of France (died 1963) 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) (died 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 and Olympic gold medallist (died 1969) 10 November – Lou Albert-Lasard, painter (died 1969) 23 December – Pierre Brissaud, illustrator, painter and engraver (died 1964)
Full date unknown
Camille Arambourg, paleontologist (died 1970)
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)