Events from the year 1855 in France.

• Monarch – Napoleon III

• 1 March – Compagnie Générale des Omnibus established to secure a monopoly over horse-buses in Paris.
• 15 May–15 November – Exposition Universelle in Paris. This gives rise to the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855.
• 16 August – Battle of Chernaya River, Russian troops defeated by French and Sardinian forces in the Crimean War.
• 7 September – Battle of Malakoff, French victory over Russian forces, part of the siege of Sevastopol.
• 11 September – siege of Sevastopol ends in Franco-British victory.
• 17 October – Battle of Kinburn, combined British Royal Navy and French Navy force engage Russian forts on shore.

• ROAM (Réunion des Organismes d'Assurance Mutuelle) association is founded.

• 20 January – Ernest Chausson, composer (died 1899)
• 15 February – Jean-Joseph Carriès, sculptor, ceramist, and miniaturist (died 1894)
• 18 February – Jean Jules Jusserand, author and diplomat (died 1932)
• 16 March – Achille Maffre de Baugé, poet (died 1928)
• 27 April – Caroline Rémy de Guebhard, socialist, journalist and feminist (died 1929)
• 27 September – Paul Émile Appell, mathematician (died 1930)
• 5 November – Léon Teisserenc de Bort, meteorologist (died 1913)
• 10 November – Alexandre Darracq, automobile manufacturer (died 1931)

• 15 January – Henri Braconnot, chemist and pharmacist (born 1780)
• 26 January – Gérard de Nerval, poet, essayist and translator (born 1808)
• 3 March
  • Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure, lawyer and Prime Minister (born 1767)
  • Antoine-Geneviève-Héraclius-Agénor de Gramont, aristocrat (born 1789)
• 26 May – Jean Isidore Harispe, Marshal of France (born 1768)
• 18 April – Jean-Baptiste Isabey, painter (born 1767)
• 10 June – Jacques-Jean Barre, engraver (born 1793)
• 23 October – François André Michaux, botanist (born 1770)
• 25 November – Pierre-Justin-Marie Macquart, entomologist (born 1778)
• 2 December – Frédéric Berat, poet and songwriter (born 1801)
• Full date unknown – Raymond Gayrard, sculptor (born 1807)

• Jean-François Millet produces the engraving "Study of a Woman Churning Butter".