← 1898 1897 1896 1895 1894 1899 in France → 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904
Decades:	1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s
See also:	Other events of 1899 History of France  • Timeline  • Years

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.
• 20 June – Right-wing nationalist movement Action Française 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.^[1]
• 21 September – Henri François Béconnais sets the 1 km speed record (48 seconds) in a Soncin automobile at Achères.^[2]

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)
• 25 February – Bernadette Cattanéo, trade unionist, communist activist, newspaper editor (died 1963)
• 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)^[3]
• 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)