Abel Ferry

Abel Jules Édouard Ferry (26 May 1881 – 15 September 1918) was a French politician. Ferry was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, the son of Senator

Charles Ferry Charles Émile Joseph Léon Ferry (23 May 1834 – 21 July 1909) was a French politician. Younger brother of Jules Ferry, Charles Ferry was born in Saint-Dié, in the département of Vosges. Charles was a businessman, becoming involved in nati ...

and nephew of

Jules Ferry Jules François Camille Ferry (; 5 April 183217 March 1893) was a French statesman and republican philosopher. He was one of the leaders of the Moderate Republicans and served as Prime Minister of France from 1880 to 1881 and 1883 to 1885. He ...

, Abel continued the family tradition when he was elected in 1909 to represent the

Vosges The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a singl ...

department in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon Res ...

. Ferry served as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 13 June 1914 to 29 October 1915 in the first and second governments of

René Viviani Jean Raphaël Adrien René Viviani (; 8 November 18637 September 1925) was a French politician of the Third Republic, who served as Prime Minister for the first year of World War I. He was born in Sidi Bel Abbès, in French Algeria. In France ...

. Ferry's diaries, published as ''Carnets secrets 1914-1918'', are a valuable source on relations between the French government and its generals during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Ferry was an early and trenchant critic of army commander

Joseph Joffre Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre (12 January 1852 – 3 January 1931) was a French general who served as Commander-in-Chief of French forces on the Western Front from the start of World War I until the end of 1916. He is best known for regroupi ...

. Ferry was a key figure in the Army Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, regularly visiting the armies in the field and reporting back to the Chamber. He was mortally wounded by shellfire while visiting the

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferry, Abel 1881 births 1918 deaths Politicians from Paris Independent Radical politicians Secretaries of State of France Members of the 9th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 10th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 11th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic French military personnel killed in World War I