Jean-Frédéric de La Tour du Pin Gouvernet, (22 March 1727 – 28 April 1794), ''Comte de Paulin'', was a French nobleman, general and politician. After a military career that spanned over forty years, he was elected deputy to the
Estates-General of 1789
The Estates General of 1789 was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). It was the last of the Estates General of the Kingdom o ...
for the nobility. His short political life came to an end after his nomination as the penultimate
Secretary of State for War
The Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, which existed from 1794 to 1801 and from 1854 to 1964. The Secretary of State for War headed the War Office and ...
at the start of the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
. A monarchist, he was sentenced to death and guillotined in 1794 alongside his elder brother Philippe-Antoine.
Life
Born in
Grenoble
lat, Gratianopolis
, commune status = Prefecture and commune
, image = Panorama grenoble.png
, image size =
, caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
on 22 March 1727 from a noble family, he was the son of Jean de La Tour du Pin Gouvernet, ''Comte de Paulin'', and Suzanne de La Tour de La Cluse.
[La Tour Du Pin]
Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800 In 1755, he married Marguerite Cécile Séraphine de Guinot, daughter of Étienne Louis Antoine de Guinot, ''Marquis de Monconseil'', which gave him the viscounty of
Ambleville.
He served as colonel of the Bourbon Regiment of Cavalry in 1741, captain in 1744, colonel of the Grenadiers de France in 1749, Chevalier de
Saint Louis in 1757, colonel of the Regiment Brigadier Guien in 1761; he was appointed colonel of the Piedmont Regiment and ''
Maréchal de camp
''Maréchal de camp'' (sometimes incorrectly translated as field marshal) was a general officer rank used by the French Army until 1848.
The rank originated from the older rank of sergeant major general ( French: ''sergent-major général''). Se ...
'' in 1762. He was made a Lieutenant General in 1781.
In 1787, he was appointed Lieutenant General and Commander-in-Chief of the provinces of
Aunis
Aunis () is a historical province of France, situated in the north-west of the department of Charente-Maritime. Its historic capital is La Rochelle, which took over from Castrum Allionis (Châtelaillon) the historic capital which gives its name ...
,
Saintonge
Saintonge may refer to:
*County of Saintonge, a historical province of France on the Atlantic coast
*Saintonge (region), a region of France corresponding to the historical province
Places
*Saint-Genis-de-Saintonge, a commune in the Charente-Mari ...
,
Poitou
Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe.
Geography
The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...
and Lower
Angoumois
Angoumois (), historically the County of Angoulême, was a county and province of France, originally inferior to the parent duchy of Aquitaine, similar to the Périgord to its east but lower and generally less forested, equally with occasional vin ...
, and Lieutenant-General of the Armies of the King on 5 December 1787 and ''Maréchal de camp''. The Comte de La Tour du Pin was appointed commander of the Provinces of Poitou and Saintonge, and then he was elected deputy to the
Estates General on 26 March 1789. He represented the nobility of the sénéchaussée
Saintes.
He served as Minister of War, 4 August 1789 to 16 November 1790, during the first years of the French Revolution.
He restored discipline in the army and received the congratulations of the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
. Soon under political attack by the
Jacobins
, logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg
, logo_size = 180px
, logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794)
, motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir)
, successor = Pa ...
, he offered his resignation, but the king refused to accept it. Louis XVI also recalled him in 1792 to become part of the royal government.
He defended Marie-Antoinette during her trial before the prosecutor,
Fouquier-Tinville
Antoine Quentin Fouquier de Tinville (, 10 June 17467 May 1795) was a French lawyer and public prosecutor during the French Revolution and Reign of Terror.
Biography
Early career
Born in Herouël, a village in the ''département'' of the Aisne, ...
, who did not appreciate his respect for the queen.
He was guillotined in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
on 28 April 1794, when he was sentenced at the same time as his elder brother.
Family
His son led the 43rd infantry regiment of the line, was Ambassador and Peer of France, and married
Henriette Lucy Dillon, the daughter of
Arthur Dillon. He was aide du camp to
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemasonry, freemason and military officer who fought in the Ameri ...
.
Henriette-Lucy is notable for her ''Memoirs of a Woman of Fifty Years.'' She is the subject of a recent biography.
His grandson, Marquis Aymar de La Tour-du-Pin, sold all of the family's land in
Cubzaguais to the father of Louis Henri Hubert Delisle in 1835.
His châteaux
In 1759, he began the demolition of the château of La Roche-Chalais, due to the decay of the house and the cost of repairing it.
He demolished the old
Château du Bouilh
Château du Bouilh is a château in Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. It was made in 1786 for Jean-Frédéric de la Tour du Pin-Gouvernet by architect Victor Louis. The neoclassical semicircular château was built to host King Louis XVI
...
in Saint Andre Bouilh Cubzac, and began construction of a new edifice in 1787, designed by the Parisian architect
Victor Louis
Victor Louis (10 May 1731, Paris – 2 July 1800, Paris) was a French architect, disqualified on a technicality from winning the Prix de Rome in architecture in 1755.
Life
He was born Louis-Nicolas Louis in Paris. He did not adopt the name Vic ...
. However, before the château was completed, the Revolution broke out in 1789 and the château remains unfinished to this day. Only one large neoclassical semicircular wing was completed.
Titles
His full titles were Comte de
Paulin, Marquis de
la Roche-Chalais
La Roche-Chalais (; oc, La Ròcha Chalés) is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also ...
et de
Cénevières, Vicomte de
Calvignac, Comte de Chastelard, Vicomte de
Tesson et d'
Ambleville, Baron de
Cubzac, Seigneur du
Cubzaguais, Seigneur de Formarville.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pin-Gouvernet
1727 births
1794 deaths
Military personnel from Grenoble
Secretaries of State for War (France)
18th-century French politicians
French people executed by guillotine during the French Revolution
Politicians from Grenoble