Albert Édouard Le Brethon de Caligny (11 December 1833

Pont-l'Évêque, Calvados Pont-l'Évêque () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It is known for Pont-l'Évêque cheese, a type of soft cheese, the oldest Normandy cheese in production. During World War II, the town was ...

– 17 January 1863,

Shaoxing Shaoxing (; ) is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. It was formerly known as Kuaiji and Shanyin and abbreviated in Chinese as (''Yuè'') from the area's former inhabitants. ...

) was a French Navy officer and founder of the

Ever Victorious Army "Ever Victorious Army" ( ''cháng shèng jūn'') was the name given to a small imperial army that fought rebels in late-19th-century China. It was directed and trained by Europeans. The Ever Victorious Army fought for the Qing dynasty against th ...

Career

After studies at the

École Polytechnique École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

, Le Brethon joined the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

, rising to midshipman in 1855. He served on ''Persévérante'' and on ''Lavoisier'' before rising to Ensign on 9 October 1857. Albert Edouard Le BRETHON de CALIGNY
Parcours d'officiers dans la Royale He took part in the

Italian unification The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

on ''Tempête'' in 1859 before transferring on the frigate ''Forte'' the next year. He distinguished himself during the

Battle of Shanghai The Battle of Shanghai () was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of China (ROC) and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) of the Empire of Japan at the beginning of th ...

while leading a landing party, and was awarded command of ''

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

''. Promoted to Lieutenant on 10 May 1862, Le Brethon was tasked to instruct locally recruited troops, leading to the training of the

. Gazette de Changhai - 5 : Les malheurs de la Concession continuent : le deuxième assaut des Taiping
Consulat général de France à Shanghai From October, he commanded a mixed troop of French and Chinese soldiers fighting the

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It lasted fr ...

. On 17 January 1863, he was killed at

by the explosion of an artillery piece.Roche, vol.1, p.85 Posthumously promoted to general in the Chinese Army, he was buried at Kangpo. The gunboat ''Aigrette'' was renamed to ''Le Brethon'' in his honour.

Notes, citations, and references

;Notes ;Citations ;References *
LE BRETHON de COLIGNY Albert, Édouard
MÉMORIAL DES OFFICIERS DE MARINE {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Brethon de Caligny, Albert Edouard 1833 births 1863 deaths French Navy officers