Jean-Baptiste Pastré (10 October 1804 - 19 August 1877) was a French banker and arms-dealer from

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

. A merchant banker in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, he founded the

Anglo-Egyptian Bank The Anglo-Egyptian Bank was a British overseas bank established in 1864. History The founding banks were Agra and Masterman's Bank, La Compagnie Financière Maurice de Cattauï and the General Credit and Finance Co., and the bank incorporated P ...

in 1862. He also served on the City Council of Marseille.

Early life

Jean-Baptiste Pastré was born on 10 October 1804 in

.GeneaNet: Jean-Baptiste Pastré
/ref> His father, Jean-François Pastré (1758-1821), was a banker.Michael Stephen Smith, ''The Emergence of Modern Business Enterprise in France, 1800-1930'', Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2006, p. 4

/ref> His mother was Marie-Eugénie Gauthier (1776-1862). He had a sister, Amélie Pastré (1800-1880), and three brothers: Jean Joseph Pastré (1801-1861), Eugène Pastré (1806–1868) and Jules Pastré, Prince d'Edde (1810-1902).

Career

Pastré became a prominent businessman and banker in Marseille.Dominique Barjot, ''Les patrons du second Empire: Marseille'', Picard, 1999, p. 2

/ref> He was also an arms-dealer.Pierre-Paul Zalio, ''Grandes familles de Marseille au XXe siècle: enquête sur l'identité économique d'un territoire portuaire'', Belin, 1999, p. 8

/ref>René Burruey, ''Le port moderne de Marseille: du dock au conteneur, 1844-1974'', Chambre de commerce et d'industrie Marseille-Provence, 1994, p. 9

/ref>Laurence Lemaire, ''Les gens de Marseille font le guide'', Images en manoeuvres éditions, 2003, p. 3

/ref> For example, he sold weapons to the French Army during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

of 1853-1856. Moreover, in the 1850s, he served on the Boards of Directors of Arnaud Touache et Cie, later known as the Compagnie de navigation mixte, and

Messageries Maritimes ''Messageries Maritimes'' was a French merchant shipping company. It was originally created in 1851 as ''Messageries nationales'', later called ''Messageries impériales'', and from 1871, ''Compagnie des messageries maritimes'', casually known as ...

, both merchant shipping companies.Marie-Françoise Berneron-Couvenhes, ''Les messageries maritimes: l'essor d'une grande compagnie de navigation française, 1851-1894'', Paris: Presses Paris Sorbonne, 2007, p. 7

/ref> Thanks to his mother's friendship with

Muhammad Ali of Egypt Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha, also known as Muhammad Ali of Egypt and the Sudan ( sq, Mehmet Ali Pasha, ar, محمد علي باشا, ; ota, محمد علی پاشا المسعود بن آغا; ; 4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849), was ...

, Pastré went to Egypt to do business at the age of nineteen. As a result, he established a financial institution in Egypt as early as 1825. From the 1840s to the 1860s, he was one of the main French merchant bankers investing in

, alongside Delort de Gléon and Edouard Dervieu (1824-1905).Juan Carlos, Martinez Oliva, John Consiglio, Gabriel Tortella, ''Banking and Finance in the Mediterranean: A Historical Perspective'', Ashgate Publishing, 2013, p. 28

/ref> In 1862, he founded the

.Michel Lavallois, Sarga Moussa, ''L'orientalisme des saint-simoniens'', Maisonneuve & Larose, 2006, p. 2

/ref> Back in Marseille, Pastré served as the first Chairman of the

Société Marseillaise de Crédit Société Marseillaise de Crédit (SMC) is a bank in France. History The Société Marseillaise de Crédit was created in 1865 by Joseph Grandval, Victor Roux, Albert Rostand and Armand Bergasse.

.Société Marseillaise de Crédit: History
Marseille Info
He also served as the first Vice President of the ''Compagnie des Docks et Entrepôts de Marseille'', which he co-founded.Dominique Pons, ''Des docks et des hommes'', Images en manoeuvres, 200

/ref>Laurence Américi, Xavier Daumalin, ''Les dynasties marseillaises: de la Révolution à nos jours'', Paris: Perrin, 2010, p. 2

/ref> Additionally, he served as a member of the Chamber of Commerce of Marseille from 1836 to 1842, from 1845 to 1849, and as its Chairman from 1852 to 1866.Xavier Daumalin, Marcel Courdurié, ''Vapeur et révolution industrielle à Marseille: 1831-1857'', Chambre de commerce et d'industrie Marseille-Provence, 1997, p. 13

/ref> In this capacity, he described Marseille as the meeting place between the West and the East, with the Mediterranean Sea as the place where peace must be forged.Jean Carpentier, ''Histoire de la Méditerranée'', François Lebrun, Paris: Seuil, 1998, p. 33

/ref> He also served as a city councillor of Marseille.François Arnoulé, Christophe Matrat, Jean-Louis Miège, ''Études d'histoire contemporaine tunisienne (1846-1871)'', Université de Provence, I.H.P.O.M., 1973, p. 5

/ref>

Personal life

Pastré married Marie-Thérèse Poncet (1821-1879) on 15 February 1841. They had three children: *Marie Jeanne Faustine Pastré (1841-1919). *Eugénie Pastré (1843-unknown). *Rose Pastré (1847-1892). They resided at 57 Rue Saint-Ferréol in Marseille.''Chemin de fer de Marseille à Avignon et Beaucaire: tracé Montricher, adopté par le Conseil général des ponts-et-chaussées. Statuts du 5 février 1842'', p.

/ref>

Death

Pastré died on 19 August 1877 in Marseille.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pastre, Jean-Baptiste 1804 births 1877 deaths Politicians from Marseille French bankers French corporate directors Businesspeople from Marseille 19th-century French businesspeople French expatriates in Egypt