Jules Paul Benjamin Delessert (14 February 1773 – 1 March 1847) was a French banker and naturalist. He was an honorary member of the Académie des Sciences and many species were named from his natural history collections.

Biography

He was born at Lyon, the son of Étienne Delessert (1735–1816), the founder of the first fire insurance company and the first discount bank in France. Their ancestors had moved from Switzerland after 1685. Young Delessert was travelling in England when the French Revolution broke out, but he hastened back to join the Paris National Guard in 1790, becoming an officer of artillery in 1793. His father bought him out of the army, however, in 1795 in order to entrust him with the management of his bank. Gifted with remarkable energy, he started many commercial enterprises, founding the first cotton factory at

Passy Passy () is an area of Paris, France, located in the 16th arrondissement, on the Right Bank. It is home to many of the city's wealthiest residents. Passy was a commune on the outskirts of Paris. In 1658, hot springs were discovered around whic ...

in 1801, and a

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

factory in 1802 where

Jean-Baptiste Quéruel Jean-Baptiste Quéruel (23 November 1779 – 20 June 1845) was the inventor of the method for industrial production of sugar from Sugar beet, beet. Quéruel was born on 23 November 1779 in Normandy at the hamlet of La Perrochère in Saint-Quenti ...

developed the industrial manufacture of sugar from sugar beet, and for which he was created a

baron of the Empire As Emperor of the French, Napoleon I created titles of nobility to institute a stable elite in the First French Empire, after the instability resulting from the French Revolution. Like many others, both before and since, Napoleon found that th ...

. He sat 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 R ...

for many years from 1815, and was a strong advocate for many humane measures, notably the suppression of the Tours or revolving box at the foundling hospital, the suppression of the death penalty, and the improvement of the penitentiary system. He was made regent of the

Bank of France The Bank of France ( French: ''Banque de France''), headquartered in Paris, is the central bank of France. Founded in 1800, it began as a private institution for managing state debts and issuing notes. It is responsible for the accounts of the F ...

in 1802, and was also member of, and, indeed, founder of many, learned and philanthropic societies. In 1818 he founded with

Jean-Conrad Hottinger Baron Jean-Conrad Hottinguer (15 February 1764, Zurich – 12 September 1841, Castle Piple, Boissy-Saint-Léger) was a Swiss-born French banker who later became a Baron of the French Empire. Biography Career In 1784, Hottinguer left the city ...

the first savings bank in France, the

Groupe Caisse d'Epargne A group is a military unit or a military formation that is most often associated with military aviation. Air and aviation groups The terms group and wing differ significantly from one country to another, as well as between different branches ...

and maintained a keen interest in it until his death in 1847. He is buried in Rue Lekain. Benjamin had one daughter, Caroline Delessert. In 1858 Caroline married

Baron Jean-Henri Hottinguer Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

. He was also an ardent

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and

conchologist Conchology () is the study of mollusc shells. Conchology is one aspect of malacology, the study of molluscs; however, malacology is the study of molluscs as whole organisms, whereas conchology is confined to the study of their shells. It includ ...

; his botanical library contained 30,000 volumes, of which he published a catalogue ''Musée botanique de M. Delessert'' (1845). He also wrote ''Des avantages de la caisse d'épargne et de prévoyance'' (1835), ''Mémoire sur un projet de bibliothèque royale'' (1836), ''Le Guide de bonheur'' (1839), and ''Recueil de coquilles décrites par Lamarck'' (1841–42). His major botanical collaborators were Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and

Pedro Cláudio Dinamarquez Clausen Peter Clausen (approximately 1801–1872), often misspelt as Peter Claussen, and also known as Pedro Claudio Clausen and Pedro Dinamarquez Clausen, was a Danish natural history collector born in Copenhagen, who was known for his work between 1834 an ...

. He was honoured in 1813, when botanist Jean Vincent Félix Lamouroux published ''

Delesseria ''Delesseria'' is a genus of red algae belonging to the family Delesseriaceae. The genus has cosmopolitan distribution. The genus name of ''Delesseria'' is in honour of Jules Paul Benjamin Delessert (1773–1847), who was a French banker and na ...

'', which is a genus of

red algae Red algae, or Rhodophyta (, ; ), are one of the oldest groups of eukaryotic algae. The Rhodophyta also comprises one of the largest phyla of algae, containing over 7,000 currently recognized species with taxonomic revisions ongoing. The majority ...

belonging to the family

Delesseriaceae The Delesseriaceae is a family of about 100 genera of marine red alga. Genera As accepted by AlgaeBase AlgaeBase is a global species database of information on all groups of algae, both marine and freshwater, as well as sea-grass. History ...

. A boulevard in the XVIth arrondissement and a road in the Xth arrondissement are named after Delessert.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Delessert, Benjamin 19th-century French botanists French bankers Members of the French Academy of Sciences 1773 births 1847 deaths Regents of the Banque de France