Frédéric Alexandre 'Fritz' Courvoisier (1 July 1799 – 10 December 1854) was a watchmaker for the first part of his life, then joined the military and later on became a political figure.

Biography

Courvoisier was born at

La Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city loc ...

into a family of watchmakers and clockmakers; he worked in the trade of his family with his father and brothers before creating his own enterprise in 1832. in 1826, he married Anna Rothpletz, with whom he had two sons, Paul and Emile. His wife, Anna, died in 1836 at age of 30. He then travelled to examine the watchmaking and clock making industry in many places such as

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and

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. When he returned to Switzerland, he then became elected the captain of the "

Carabiniers A carabinier (also sometimes spelled carabineer or carbineer) is in principle a soldier armed with a carbine. A carbiniere is a carabiniere musket or rifle and were commonplace by the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. The word is deri ...

" of La Chaux-de-Fonds. in 1847, he participated in the

Sonderbund war The Sonderbund War (german: Sonderbundskrieg, fr , Guerre du Sonderbund, it , Guerra del Sonderbund) of November 1847 was a civil war in Switzerland, then still a relatively loose confederacy of cantons. It ensued after seven Catholic cantons ...

(in which Neuchatel was neutral).

Revolution of Neuchatel

Following the

French Revolution of 1848 The French Revolution of 1848 (french: Révolution française de 1848), also known as the February Revolution (), was a brief period of civil unrest in France, in February 1848, that led to the collapse of the July Monarchy and the foundation ...

the people of the canton de Neuchatel, especially from Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds elected Fritz Courvoisier as their commander in chief in a republican coup. On 29 February 1848 a soldier called Ami Girard arrived from

Saint-Imier Saint-Imier () is a municipality in the Jura bernois administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. It is located in the French-speaking Bernese Jura (''Jura Bernois''). The Observatoire Astronomique de Mont-Soleil is located abov ...

and agreed to march with Fritz Courvoisier from

la Chaux-de-Fonds La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city loc ...

Neuchâtel along with 200 volunteers . On 1 March at 8pm the

Castle of Neuchâtel A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

fell into the hands of the revolutionaries. By the 5th ambassadors from Switzerland had recognized the new government and the Republic of Neuchatel was formed.

After the Revolution

From 1851 to 1854, he was elected in the radical-democratic party as national advisor and fought for the reconstruction of railways between the Swiss plains and

, passing through

Morteau Morteau () is a commune, in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, eastern France. 300px, The road of Doubs_(river).html"_;"title="Villers-le-Lac_(D215)_along_the_Doubs_(river)">Villers-le-Lac_(D215)_along_the_Doubs_(river) ...

Le Locle Le Locle (; german: Luggli) is a Communes of Switzerland, municipality in the Canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It is situated in the Jura Mountains, a few kilometers from the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. It is the third smallest city in Switz ...

via the

Val-de-Travers Val-de-Travers is a municipality in the canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It was created on 1 January 2009, when the former municipalities of Boveresse, Buttes, Couvet, Fleurier, Les Bayards, Môtiers, Noiraigue, Saint-Sulpice and Travers ...

. After disputes between the various cantons they agreed to build a railway, but Courvoisier's preferred line was not chosen. Fritz Courvoisier died on 10 December 1854 at

Neuchâtel , neighboring_municipalities= Auvernier, Boudry, Chabrey (VD), Colombier, Cressier, Cudrefin (VD), Delley-Portalban (FR), Enges, Fenin-Vilars-Saules, Hauterive, Saint-Blaise, Savagnier , twintowns = Aarau (Switzerland), Besançon (France), ...

, by an attack of

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

Archive sources

External links

* http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/155987

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Courvoisier, Fritz People from La Chaux-de-Fonds Swiss watchmakers (people) 1854 deaths 1799 births