Henri-Robert (4 September 1863 – 12 May 1936) was a French lawyer, historian, and member of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

in 1923. Born of unknown parents and probably illegitimate, Henri-Robert was admitted to the Paris bar in 1885 and rose to become a celebrated criminal defense lawyer. He defended a young woman named Gabrielle Bompard in a sensational 1889 murder trial, calling in

Georges Gilles de la Tourette Georges Albert Édouard Brutus Gilles de la Tourette (; 30 October 1857 – 22 May 1904) was a French neurologist and the namesake of Tourette syndrome, a neurological condition characterized by tics. His main contributions in medicine were in ...

as an expert witness on hypnotism. He also defended the fraudster

Thérèse Humbert Thérèse Humbert (1856–after 1936) was a French female fraudster, who pretended to be an heir of an imaginary American millionaire named Robert Crawford. Biography Humbert was born Thérèse Daurignac, a peasant girl in Aussonne, Midi-Pyré ...

, and the serial child killer Jeanne Weber, twice. In 1903, a Paris correspondent for ''The New York Times'' described him as "an exceptionally successful lawyer... the favorite advocate of the criminal classes (who) has already saved innumerable heads from the guillotine".Rowland Strong, New York Times, February 23, 1903 From 1913 through 1919, he was President of the Paris Bar. After the First World War, Henri-Robert turned his focus to civil litigation and to the production of books on historical topics such as Mary Stuart,

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

Catherine de Médici Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King H ...

Marie-Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child and ...

, and

Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars (1620 – 12 September 1642) was a favourite of King Louis XIII of France, who led the last and most nearly successful of many conspiracies against the Cardinal Richelieu, the king's powerful f ...

. Henri-Robert's daughter Jeanne Henri-Robert married the future French Prime Minister

Paul Reynaud Paul Reynaud (; 15 October 1878 – 21 September 1966) was a French politician and lawyer prominent in the interwar period, noted for his stances on economic liberalism and militant opposition to Germany. Reynaud opposed the Munich Agreement of ...

in 1912.

References

External links

online biography (in French)
{{Authority control 1863 births 1936 deaths Lawyers from Paris Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur 19th-century French lawyers 20th-century French historians Members of the Académie Française Burials at Batignolles Cemetery