1861 in France
Events from the year 1861 in France.
Events
- News of Henri Mouhot's discovery of Angkor Wat is published.
Births
- 15 February - Charles Édouard Guillaume, physicist, awarded Nobel Prize in Physics in 1920 (died 1938).
- 21 February - Pierre de Bréville, composer (died 1949).
- 30 October - Antoine Bourdelle, sculptor (died 1929).
- 2 November - Maurice Blondel, philosopher (died 1949.
- 8 December - Georges Méliès, filmmaker (died 1938).
- 16 December - Antonio de La Gandara, painter and draughtsman (died 1917).
Full date unknown
- Jacques Émile Blanche, painter (died 1942).
Deaths
- 5 February - Pierre Bosquet, Marshal of France (born 1810).
- 10 April - Édouard Ménétries, entomologist (born 1802).
- 14 July - Frédéric de Lafresnaye, ornithologist (born 1783).
- 24 August - Pierre Berthier, geologist and mining engineer (born 1782).
- 22 September - Rose Chéri, actress (born 1824).
- 10 November - Henri Mouhot, naturalist and explorer (born 1826).
- 10 November - Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, zoologist (born 1805).
- 15 November - David Carcassonne, physician (born 1789).
- 20 November - Pierre Frédéric Sarrus, mathematician (born 1798).
- 21 November - Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire, ecclesiastic, preacher, journalist and political activist (born 1802).
Full date unknown
- Hippolyte André Jean Baptiste Chélard, composer, violinist and conductor (born 1789).