François-Victor Hugo (21 October 1828 – 26 December 1873) was the fourth of five children of French novelist

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

and his wife

Adèle Foucher Adèle Foucher (27 September 1803 – 27 August 1868) was the wife of French writer Victor Hugo, with whom she was acquainted from childhood. Her affair with the critic Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve became the raw material for Sainte-Beuve's ...

. François-Victor is best known for his translations of the works of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

into French, which were published in 18 volumes between 1859 and 1866. François-Victor was politically active, helping his father publish two newspapers—"The Event" (''L'Événement'', 1848–1851) and "The Reminder" ('' Le Rappel'', 1869)—both of which were shut down for political reasons. He followed his father into exile on

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

in 1852; while there, he assisted his elder brother

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

, a pioneering photographer, in creating portraits of the Hugo family and others. François-Victor also published a book, "The Unknown Normandy" (''La Normandie inconnue''), in 1857. The Hugo family returned from exile in 1870, after the declaration of the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940 ...

, but François-Victor died only a few years later, from tuberculosis, aged 45. Because of Victor Hugo's antipathy to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, he insisted that his son be buried without a

crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

or the assistance of a priest.

External links

* 1828 births 1873 deaths Translators of William Shakespeare Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 19th-century French translators 19th-century French novelists Hugo family {{France-translator-stub