Charles Paul Émile Hugot (1904–1993), known as Émile Hugot was a sugar technologist, manager of sugar factories and he wrote the standard text on engineering in sugar factories.

Early life and education

Hugot was born in Saint-Denis, Réunion in 1904 and died in the same city in 1993. Emile Hugot pursued his secondary education at the Leconte de Lisle High School (''Collège Bourbon'') and later at the '' Lycée Saint-Louis'' in Paris. He continued his studies at the '' Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures'' in Paris in 1923, after gaining his engineering degree he did military service, training as a cadet officer at the artillery school in

Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglomerat ...

, he became a lieutenant in the artillery in Blida, Algeria. He returned to civilian life as a trainee chemist at the sugar factories on the French mainland at

Artres Artres () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. A group of grave objects from a Frankish noble lady was found in Artres in the nineteenth century. Known as the Artres Treasure, it is now mostly in the British Museum. Populati ...

and

Bucy-le-Long Bucy-le-Long () is a commune in the department of Aisne in Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost Regions of France, region of France, created by the territorial reform of Frenc ...

before returning to

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

in May 1928.

Working life on Réunion

On Réunion he was engineer-surveyor to the Hydro-Electric Company of Reunion (SHER) from 1928 to 1929. At that time sugar factories were in need of energy, and so his objective was to capture the energy in the

Rivière des Marsouins The Rivière des Marsouins is a river on the Indian Ocean island of Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas dep ...

to produce 36,000 kWh. He briefly joined his father's business offices, after which he became CEO of the Sugar Company Adam de Villiers (at La Mare) in 1932 and the Eperon Agricultural and Industrial Company (''Société Agricole et Industrielle de l'Eperon'').

Military service

At the outbreak of World War II Hugot was mobilized as the

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to fac ...

commander at

Pointe des Galets The Pointe des Galets is a cape in the northwest of the island of Réunion, heading on the Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bou ...

fighting on the side of Vichy France. He was wounded in the

Battle of Réunion A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

and was transferred to England. In London, he was assigned to the General Staff of the Free French Forces and participated in the Alsace campaign before being sent to the front of the Alps. He was promoted to Captain on 25 September and discharged on 28 September 1945.

Return to sugar

He returned to Réunion to devote himself to the sugar industry. He restructured the sugar industry of Réunion by amalgamating estates and factories of La Mare, Savanna and Grand Bois and the sugar estates of Convenance and Eperon and founded the ''Société des Sucreries de Bourbon'', which has become the

Bourbon (group) Bourbon is a French shipping company, based in Marseilles. Bourbon operates in the field of surface and submarine maritime services, on oil, gas and wind farms. The company has 6,820 employees, and the group is present in more than 30 countries. ...

. He became the CEO of Bourbon Sugar from its inception in 1948 and he remained in that position until 1979. He amalgamated the factory and the estates of Stella in 1952. He was the founder of the Savanna Distillery. Hugot is known throughout the world for his magisterial work on cane sugar engineering. He had six children with Mary Noëmie Renée Jeanne Reydellet.

Commemoration

A school in

has been named after him.

Publications

* *

Notes and references

* * *

External links

Collège Emile Hugot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hugot, Emile French mechanical engineers French military personnel of World War II People from Saint-Denis, Réunion Sugar technologists 1904 births 1993 deaths