1816 in France

Events from the year 1816 in France

Incumbents

 * Monarch – Louis XVIII
 * Prime Minister – Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu

Events

 * 8 May – Divorce is abolished by the Chambre introuvable, after having been permitted following the French Revolution.
 * 2 July – French frigate Méduse (1810) runs aground off the coast of Senegal, with 140 lives lost in the botched rescue that takes weeks, leading to a scandal in the French government.
 * 6 September – King Louis XVIII dissolves the Chambre introuvable, the legislature that had been elected after the Second Restoration re-established the old monarchy.
 * 25 September and 4 October – 1816 French legislative election.

Arts and culture

 * 21 March – The Institut de France is reorganized by Louis XVIII into four royal academies: a revived Académie française; the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres; the Royal Academy of Sciences; and the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

Finance

 * 28 April – The Caisse des dépôts et consignations, a public investment body, is created by Louis XVIII.
 * Mutuelle de L'assurance contre L'incendie ("L'Anciente Mutuelle"), predecessor of Axa, the global insurance and financial services company, is founded in Rouen.

Births

 * 18 February – Ferdinand Dugué, poet and playwright (died 1913)
 * 19 February – Louis-Guillaume Perreaux, inventor and engineer (died 1889)
 * 14 July – Arthur de Gobineau, aristocrat, novelist, diplomat, travel writer and racist theorist (died 1882 in Italy)
 * 4 September – François Bazin, opera composer (died 1878)
 * 29 September – Paul Féval, père, novelist and dramatist (died 1887)

Deaths

 * 2 January – Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, chemist and politician (born 1737)
 * 16 January – Jacques-René Tenon, surgeon (born 1724)
 * 31 March – Jean-François Ducis, dramatist (born 1733)
 * 8 April – Julie Billiart, religious leader (born 1751)
 * 28 April – Edme Mentelle, geographer (born 1730)
 * 4 May – Marie-Madeleine Guimard, ballerina (born 1743)
 * 7 June – Louis-Mathias, Count de Barral, clergyman (born 1746)
 * 4 August – François-André Vincent, painter (born 1746)
 * 7 August – François-Joseph Duret, sculptor (born 1729)
 * 30 September – Joseph Caillot, actor and singer (born 1733)
 * 18 October – Claude Dejoux, sculptor (born 1732)
 * 21 December – Jean-Pierre-André Amar, politician (born 1755)

Exact date missing

 * François-Guillaume Ménageot, painter (born 1744)