1820 in France

Events from the year 1820 in France.

Incumbents

 * Monarch – Louis XVIII
 * Prime Minister – Élie, duc Decazes (until 20 February), then Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu

Events

 * 14 February – Charles Ferdinand d'Artois, Duke of Berry, the nephew of the king is assassinated by a fanatic. The Prime Minister, Elie Louis, Duke of Decazes and Glücksbierg is held indirectly for the crime by the Ultra-royalists and forced to resign from the government
 * 12 June – Élie Decazes, leader of the opposition in the Chamber of Deputies, successfully introduces the "Law of the Double Vote", a proposal to add to the 258 existing legislators by creating 172 seats that would be "selected by special electoral colleges" made up of the wealthiest 25% of voters in each of France's departments.
 * 4 November – Legislative election held.
 * 13 November – Legislative election held.
 * Public gas lighting in Paris.

Births

 * 16 January – Pierre Louis Rouillard, sculptor (died 1881)
 * 20 January – Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois, geologist and mineralogist (died 1886)
 * 20 February – Gustave Nadaud, songwriter and chansonnier (died 1893)
 * 30 April – Edouard Louis Dubufe, painter (died 1883)
 * 11 June – Alexandre Bertrand, archaeologist (died 1902)
 * 17 September – Émile Augier, dramatist (died 1889)
 * 29 September – Henry, Count of Chambord, Legitimist Pretender to the throne of France (died 1883)
 * 24 October – Eugène Fromentin, painter and writer (died 1876)
 * 8 November – Hippolyte Castille, writer (died 1886)

Full date unknown

 * Antoine-Élisabeth-Cléophas Dareste de la Chavanne, historian (died 1882)
 * Léon Fairmaire, entomologist (died 1906)
 * Mathieu Auguste Geffroy, historian (died 1895)
 * Ernest de Jonquières, mathematician (died 1901)
 * Léonard Morel-Ladeuil, goldsmith and sculptor (died 1888)
 * Auguste Sallé, traveller and entomologist (died 1896)

January to June

 * 9 January – Charles-Louis Clérisseau, architectural draughtsman, antiquary, and artist (born 1721)
 * 21 January – Palisot de Beauvois, naturalist (born 1752)
 * 15 February – Pierre-Joseph Cambon, statesman (born 1756)
 * 26 March – Jean-Étienne Despréaux, ballet dancer, choreographer, composer, singer and playwright (born 1748)
 * 25 April – Constantin-François Chassebœuf, philosopher, historian, orientalist, and politician (born 1757)
 * 21 June – Alexis Thérèse Petit, physicist (born 1791)

July to December

 * 14 September – François Joseph Lefebvre, Marshal of France (born 1755)
 * 5 October – Augustin Barruel, Jesuit priest and writer (born 1741)
 * 16 November – Jean-Lambert Tallien, political figure (born 1767)
 * 7 December – Denis Decrès, naval officer and nobleman (born 1761)
 * 25 December – Joseph Fouché, statesman and Minister (born 1763)
 * 29 December – Jean Baptiste Antoine Auget de Montyon, philanthropist (born 1733)

Full date unknown

 * Pierre Denys de Montfort, naturalist (born 1766)
 * Jean-Baptiste Robinet, naturalist (born 1735)
 * Jean Simeon Rousseau de la Rottiere, painter (born 1747)