Events from the year 1785 in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Incumbents

*Monarch:

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

Events

January

*7 January - French balloonist

Jean-Pierre Blanchard Jean-Pierre rançoisBlanchard (4 July 1753 – 7 March 1809) was a French inventor, best known as a pioneer of gas balloon flight, who distinguished himself in the conquest of the air in a balloon, in particular the first crossing of the Englis ...

crosses the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

in a balloon

July

*16 July - The

Piper-Heidsieck Piper-Heidsieck is a Champagne house founded by Florens-Louis Heidsieck on 16 July 1785 in Reims. Heidsieck joined with Piper in October 1839. In the late 1980s, Piper-Heidsieck became part of the Rémy Cointreau wine and spirits group. It ...

Champagne house is founded by

Florens-Louis Heidsieck Florens-Louis Heidsieck (1749–1828) was the founder of the Champagne house Heidsieck & Co from which later Piper-Heidsieck was spun off, and which was the start of the Heidsieck Champagne clan. Heidsieck was the son of a Lutheran minister fro ...

Reims, France Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by t ...

August

*15 August -

Cardinal de Rohan Louis René Édouard de Rohan known as Cardinal de Rohan (25 September 1734 – 16 February 1803), ''prince de Rohan-Guéméné'', was a French Bishop of Strasbourg, politician, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, and cadet of the Rohan f ...

is arrested in Paris; the Necklace Affair comes into the open.

Date unknown

* ''

Cabinet des Modes ''Cabinet des Modes'', with the title La Magasin des Modes Nouvelles Francaises et Anglaises (or Magasin des modes for short) in 1786–1789, and Le Journal de la Modet et du Gout in 1790–1793, was a French fashion magazine, published between 1 ...

'', the first fashion magazine, is published in France.

Births

*10 February -

Claude-Louis Navier Claude-Louis Navier (born Claude Louis Marie Henri Navier; ; 10 February 1785 – 21 August 1836) was a French mechanical engineer, affiliated with the French government, and a physicist who specialized in continuum mechanics. The Navier–Stok ...

*27 March -

Louis XVII Louis XVII (born Louis Charles, Duke of Normandy; 27 March 1785 – 8 June 1795) was the younger son of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette. His older brother, Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, died in June 1789, a little over a m ...

*3 April -

François-Jean-Hyacinthe Feutrier François-Jean-Hyacinthe Feutrier (3 April 1785 – 27 June 1830) was a French Catholic priest who became Bishop of Beauvais. He was Minister of Religious Affairs from 3 March to 8 August 1829. He caused a storm of protest from the other bishops i ...

*21 April -

Charles Joseph, comte de Flahaut Auguste-Charles-Joseph de Flahaut de La Billarderie, comte de Flahaut (21 April 17851 September 1870) was a French general during the Napoleonic Wars, a statesman, and late in life French ambassador to the Court of St James's. Biography He was ...

*5 May -

Charles Xavier Thomas Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar (May 5, 1785 – March 12, 1870) was a French inventor and entrepreneur best known for designing, patenting and manufacturing the first commercially successful mechanical calculator, the Arithmometer, and for found ...

*12 July - Joseph Pelet de la Lozère *30 September -

Ange Hyacinthe Maxence, baron de Damas Ange Hyacinthe Maxence de Damas de Cormaillon, baron de Damas (30 September 1785 – 6 May 1862), was a French general and statesman who participated in the Napoleonic Wars on the Russian side before returning to France after Napoleon's exile. U ...

*5 October -

Joseph Bernelle Joseph Bernelle (5 October 1785 Versailles, France Versailles, France 7 January 1871 Paris, France) was a French Army officer who commanded the French Foreign Legion during the Carlist War. Early Years and Grande Armée service He was born in 1 ...

*10 October -

Florestan I, Prince of Monaco Florestan (Tancrède Florestan Roger Louis Grimaldi; 10 October 1785, in Paris – 20 June 1856) was Prince of Monaco and Duke of Valentinois from 2 October 1841 until his death. He was the second son of Prince Honoré IV and Louise d'Aumont M ...

*13 October -

Jean-Charles Persil Jean-Charles Persil (13 October 1785 – 10 July 1870) was a French politician. He was Minister of Justice and Religious Affairs (1834–1837) during the July Monarchy, a peer of France (1839) and Councillor of State (1852). Early years Jean-Cha ...

*28 November **

Federico de Brandsen Carlos Luis Federico de Brandsen (Paris, November 28, 1785 – Battle of Ituzaingó, February 20, 1827) was a Colonel of France, French origin who fought in many of the South American wars of independence and for Argentina in the Cisplatine Wa ...

** Victor de Broglie *22 December -

Achille Libéral Treilhard Achille Libéral, count Treilhard (22 December 1785 - 3 August 1855) was a French lawyer and administrator. He was briefly Prefect of Police in Paris in 1830. Napoleonic era Achille Libéral, count Treilhard was the son of Jean-Baptiste Treilhard ...

*26 December -

Laurent Clerc Louis Laurent Marie Clerc (; 26 December 1785 – 18 July 1869) was a French teacher called "The Apostle of the Deaf in America" and was regarded as the most renowned deaf person in American Deaf History. He was taught by Abbé Sicard and dea ...

Marie Durand Marie Durand (1711–1776), was a French Protestant. She was famously imprisoned in the Tour de Constance (Aigues-Mortes) from 25 August 1730 for attending a Huguenot assembly with her mother, or perhaps because her brother, Pierre Durand, was a we ...

, saint (d.

1864 Events January–March * January 13 – American songwriter Stephen Foster ("Oh! Susanna", "Old Folks at Home") dies aged 37 in New York City, leaving a scrap of paper reading "Dear friends and gentle hearts". His parlor song " ...

)

Deaths

*7 January -

Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau Charles Joseph Patissier, Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau (8 February 1718 or 8 February 1720 – 7 January 1785) or Charles Joseph Patissier de Bussy was the Governor General of the French colony of Pondicherry from 1783 to 1785. He served with dis ...

*4 February -

Donat Nonnotte Donatien Nonnotte (10 January 1708 – 4 February 1785) was a French people, French painter who specialized in portrait painting, portraiture. A native of Besançon, Nonnotte was received by the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 174 ...

*8 May -

Étienne François, duc de Choiseul Étienne, a French analog of Stephen or Steven, is a masculine given name. An archaic variant of the name, prevalent up to the mid-17th century, is Estienne. Étienne, Etienne, Ettiene or Ettienne may refer to: People Scientists and inventors ...

*15 June **

Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier () was a French chemistry and physics teacher, and one of the first pioneers of aviation. He made the first manned free balloon flight with François Laurent d'Arlandes on 21 November 1783, in a Montgolfier ball ...

, during failed cross channel balloon flight *20 August -

Jean-Baptiste Pigalle Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (26 January 1714 – 20 August 1785) was a French sculptor. Life Pigalle was born in Paris, the seventh child of a carpenter. Although he failed to obtain the ''Prix de Rome'', after a severe struggle he entered the ''Ac ...

*15 November -

César Gabriel de Choiseul César Gabriel de Choiseul, duc de Praslin (, 15 August 1712 – 15 November 1785) was a French officer, diplomat and statesman. On 30 April 1732, he married Anne Marie de Champagne de Villaines de la Suze. After having served in the Army, he w ...

*18 November - Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans

References

{{Year in Europe, 1785 1780s in France