1861 in France

Events from the year 1861 in France.

Incumbents

1 January – Jacques Émile Blanche, painter (died 1942)
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
- Aristide Maillol, sculptor (died 1944)
- Georges Méliès, filmmaker (died 1938)
16 December – Antonio de La Gandara, painter and draughtsman (died 1917)

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)
25 November – Ferdinand Eckstein, philosopher and playwright (born 1790 in Denmark)

Hippolyte André Jean Baptiste Chélard, composer, violinist and conductor (born 1789)
Marie-Alfred de Suin, French vice-admiral and commander (born 1796)