1884 in France

Incumbents

• President: Jules Grévy
• President of the Council of Ministers: Jules Ferry

  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.
• 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.

  Arts and literature

• 29 July – Société des Artistes Indépendants is founded in Paris.

  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

• 7 July – André Dunoyer de Segonzac, painter and graphic artist
• 10 July – Pierre Larquey, 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