1888 in France explained

Events from the year 1888 in France.

Incumbents

Pierre Tirard (until 3 April), Charles Floquet (until 3 April)

16 March – France annexes the Polynesian kingdom of Raiatea and Taha'a.
18 March – France annexes the Polynesian kingdom of Bora Bora.
8 April – The town of Mende, Lozère, becomes the first French administrative centre to have electric light installed.
July–August – Strike of laborers in Paris.
8 July – Inauguration of Fontinettes boat lift on the Canal de Neufossé.
12 July – Georges Ernest Boulanger and his supporters win seats in the Chamber of Deputies.
2 October – Census of foreign residents.

21 February – Vincent van Gogh moves to Arles where he will be very productive as a painter.
14 October – Louis Le Prince films the first motion picture, Roundhay Garden Scene, in Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England (followed by Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge).
23 December – Having quarrelled with Gauguin, van Gogh cuts off the lower part of his own left ear, taking it to a brothel, and is removed to the hospital in Arles.
Jeweller and glass designer René Lalique establishes the Lalique luxury goods business in Paris.

8 January – Pierre Wertheimer, businessman and racehorse owner (died 1965)
9 January – Alfred Plé, rower and Olympic medallist (died 1980)
20 January – Georges Marrane, politician (died 1976)
4 February – Georges Girard, bacteriologist (died 1985)
20 February – Georges Bernanos, author (died 1948)
1 February – Henri Pequet, pilot, flier of first official airmail flight in 1911 (died 1974)
28 February – Eugène Bigot, composer and conductor (died 1965)
7 March – Claude Roger-Marx, writer (died 1977)
17 March – Henri Gance, weightlifter and Olympic gold medallist (died 1983)
22 March – René Massigli, diplomat (died 1988)
28 March – Léon Noël, diplomat, politician and historian (died 1987)

14 July – Jacques de Lacretelle, novelist (died 1985)
26 July – Marcel Jouhandeau, writer (died 1979)
31 July
- Léonce Crenier, Roman Catholic monk and theologian (died 1963)
- Jean Moreau, politician (died 1972)
8 August – César Vezzani, opera singer (died 1951)
12 September – Maurice Chevalier, actor and singer (died 1972)
16 September – Lucien Lamoureux, politician and Minister (died 1970)
24 September – Georges Jean Marie Darrieus, aeronautical engineer (died 1979)
30 September – Louis Lecoin, militant pacifist (died 1971)
6 October – Roland Garros, aviator and World War I fighter pilot (died 1918)
28 October – Stéphane Boudin, interior designer (died 1967)
9 November – Jean Monnet, architect of European Unity (died 1979)
23 November – Louis Antoine, mathematician (died 1971)
3 December – François Dupré, hotelier, art collector and horse breeder (died 1966)
16 December – Alphonse Juin, Marshal of France (died 1967)
26 December – Marius Canard, orientalist (died 1982)

18 January – Auguste Nicolas, Roman Catholic apologetical writer (born 1807)
23 January – Eugène Marin Labiche, dramatist (born 1815)
13 February – Jean-Baptiste Lamy, first Archbishop of Santa Fe (born 1814)
20 February – François Perrier, general and geodesist (born 1835)
22 February – Jean-Delphin Alard, violinist (born 1815)
15 March – Léonard Morel-Ladeuil, goldsmith and sculptor (born 1820)
16 March – Hippolyte Carnot, statesman (born 1801)
29 March – Charles-Valentin Alkan, composer and pianist (born 1813)
1 April – Jules Émile Planchon, botanist (born 1823)
11 April – Louis-Frédéric Brugère, professor of apologetics and church history (born 1823)
14 July – Antoine Étex, sculptor, painter and architect (born 1808)
9 August – Charles Cros, poet and inventor (born 1842)
16 November – Arsène Darmesteter, philologist (born 1846)