1899 In France

Events from the year 1899 in France.

Incumbents

*President: Félix Faure (until 18 February), Émile Loubet (starting 18 February)
*President of the Council of Ministers: Charles Dupuy (until 22 June), Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau (starting 22 June)

Events

* 18 February – Emile Loubet is elected president following the death of Felix Faure.
* 16 April – Battle of Lougou, French victory in Niger'' formed by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois.
* 17 July – The French Bretonnet-Braun mission is destroyed in the Battle of Togbao, in Chad, by the warlord Rabih az-Zubayr.
* 19 September – Alfred Dreyfus is pardoned.
* 28 October – Battle of Kouno, indecisive battle between French forces and a Muslim army led by Rabih az-Zubayr in Chad.
* Automobile manufacturer Renault established by Louis Renault and his brothers Marcel and Fernand.

Arts and literature

*21 January – Actress Sarah Bernhardt, having taken over management of the Paris theatre which she renames the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt, opens in the title rôle of Victorien Sardou's ''La Tosca''. On 20 May she premières a French adaptation of Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' with herself in the title rôle, one of the first successful female actresses to tackle a male part.
* Henri Matisse paints '' Still Life with Compote, Apples and Oranges''.
* Camille Pissarro takes an apartment overlooking the Tuileries Garden in Paris and produces a series of paintings of the view.

Sport

* 31 August – The Olympique de Marseille association football club is founded.
* 21 September – Henri François Béconnais sets the 1 km speed record (48 seconds) in a Soncin automobile at Achères.

Births

January to March

* 6 January – Alphonse Castex, rugby union player (died 1969)
* 7 January – Francis Poulenc, composer (died 1963)
* 12 January – Pierre Bernac, baritone (died 1979)
* 15 January – Louis Guilloux, writer (died 1980)
* 20 January – Pierre Gandon, illustrator and engraver of postage stamps (died 1990)
* 23 January – Pierre Grany, athlete (died 1968)
* 7 February – René Crabos, rugby union player (died 1964)
* 15 February – Georges Auric, composer (died 1983)
* 21 February – Yvonne Vallée, actress (died 1996)
* 9 March – Jules Dewaquez, soccer player (died 1971)
* 25 March – Jacques Audiberti, playwright, poet and novelist (died 1965)
* 28 March – Bernard Delaire, last French naval veteran of the First World War (died 2007)

April to June

* 7 April – Robert Casadesus, pianist (died 1972)
* 11 April – Clément Dupont, rugby union player (died 1993)
* 8 May – Jacques Heim, fashion designer (died 1967)
* 14 May
** Pierre Victor Auger, physicist (died 1993)
** Pierre Petiteau, rugby union player (died 1974)
* 15 May – Jean-Étienne Valluy, general (died 1970)
* 17 May – Anita Conti, explorer, photographer and first French female oceanographer (died 1997)
* 24 May – Suzanne Lenglen, tennis player (died 1938)
* 20 June – Jean Moulin, prefect and Resistance leader (died in custody 1943)

July to September

* 5 July
** Marcel Achard, playwright, screenwriter and author (died 1974)
**Marcel Arland, novelist, literary critic and journalist (died 1986)
* 7 July – Jean-Albert Grégoire, car pioneer (died 1992)
* 14 July – Marie-Hélène Cardot, French resistance leader and politician (died 1977)
* 19 July – Germaine Sablon, singer and actress (died 1985)
* 26 July – Édouard Bader, rugby union player (died 1983)
* 9 August – Armand Salacrou, dramatist (died 1989)
* 14 August – Adolphe Bousquet, rugby union player (died 1972)
* 28 August – Charles Boyer, actor (died 1978)
* 9 September – Brassaï, photographer, sculptor and filmmaker (died 1984)
* 14 September – Youenn Drezen, Breton nationalist writer and activist (died 1972)

October to December

* 1 October – Joseph Guillemot, athlete and Olympic gold medallist (died 1975)
* 5 October – Georges Bidault politician and resistance leader (died 1983)
* 8 October – Edmond Michelet, politician (died 1970)
* 24 October – Philippe Kieffer, Naval officer (died 1962)
* 30 October – Georges Capdeville, soccer referee (died 1991)
* 8 December
** Fernand Arnout, weightlifter and Olympic medallist (died 1974)
** François Borde, rugby union player (died 1987)
* 9 December – Jean de Brunhoff, writer and illustrator (died 1937)

Full date unknown

* Marcel Fétique, bowmaker (died 1977)
* Henri-Robert Petit, journalist, Collaborationist under the Vichy regime and far-right activist (died 1985)

Deaths

* 16 February – Félix Faure, President of France (born 1841)
* 16 May – Francisque Sarcey, journalist and drama critic (born 1827)
* 10 June – Ernest Chausson, composer (born 1855)
* 5 July – Hippolyte Lucas, entomologist (born 1814)
* 11 July – Charles Joseph Marty-Laveaux, literary scholar (born 1823)
* 14 July – Jean-François Klobb, colonial officer (born 1857)
* 20 July – Charlotte de Rothschild, socialite and painter (born 1825)
* 25 September – Francisque Bouillier, philosopher (born 1813)
* 28 November – Virginia Oldoini, Mistress of Napoleon III and significant figure in the early history of photography. (born 1837)

Full date unknown

* Henri Delaborde, art critic and painter (born 1811)

See also

* List of French films before 1910

References

{{Year in Europe, 1899

1890s in France