Jean-Marie Georges Girard, baron de Soubeyran (3 November 1828,

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 ...

- 2 February 1897, Paris), was a French

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and administrator.

Life

The son of the financial receiver-general (receveur général des finances) at Nancy and (through his mother) the grandson of Savary, duc de Rovigo, he studied law before rejoining the ministère des Finances in 1849. In 1853, he was made a knight of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

, and the following year he became head of personnel and head of the ministère d’État. Raised to the rank of officer of the Légion d’honneur, he was made deputy governor of the

Crédit Foncier de France Crédit Foncier de France (CFF) was a major French bank, active from 1852 to 2019 when its activities were entirely subsumed into Groupe BPCE, although the brand name appears to remain active. History The Crédit Foncier (English: landed cred ...

in 1860 and was the same year elected mayor of Morthemer after having tried out politics as conseiller général of the canton of

Saint-Julien-l'Ars Saint-Julien-l'Ars is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in west-central France. The inhabitants call themselves "Sacto-Julianais". Geography The climate is oceanic with temperate summers. Population History ...

(1855–1892). On 14 October 1864, he married Marie-Marguerite Beaupoil de Saint-Aulaire. Between 1863 and 1893, he was, without a break, elected deputé of

Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.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 ...

, he supported

Adolphe Thiers Marie Joseph Louis Adolphe Thiers ( , ; 15 April 17973 September 1877) was a French statesman and historian. He was the second elected President of France and first President of the French Third Republic. Thiers was a key figure in the July Rev ...

and sat with the conservative right. He also participated in the National Assembly's budget commission. Well known for his financial talents, it was his advice that Léon Gambetta sought upon being elected president of the budget commission in 1876. A member of the centre-right, he voted against the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and stood aside at the fall of the Second Empire. He bought the daily newspaper ''Le Soir'' (founded in 1869 by the banker Merton) in 1873 and imposed a more conservative editorial line on it. He later sold it to Alfred Edwards. Between 1874 and 1879, he was vice president of the Historic Monuments Commission. Re-elected on the chamber's dissolution in 1877, he sat on the side of the Bonapartists and voted against one government initiative of the Third Republic after another, notably those on economic and colonial questions. In 1878, he was relieved of his role at the Crédit Foncier de France and so decided to profit from his fortune and concentrate on enlarging his business affairs as the carrier of Normandoux at Tercé, which he had acquired in 1869. He created the Banque d'Escompte de Paris as well as various other financial and insurance companies, and he heavily restored the château and church at Morthemer. Between 1881 and 1890, he was director of the "haras de Saint-Georges", near Moulins, which he had bought with the vicomte d’

Harcourt Harcourt may refer to: People *Harcourt (surname) * Harcourt (given name) Places Canada *Harcourt Parish, New Brunswick * Harcourt, New Brunswick, an unincorporated community * Harcourt, Ontario, a village *Harcourt, Newfoundland and Labrad ...

and the

duc de Castries french: Duc de Castries, label=none, link=no, French for Duke of Castries, may refer to: * House of Castries, which held the title from 1784 to 1886 * René de La Croix de Castries (1908–1986), a member of the family best known under the pen name ...

. Following irregularities, the Seine Tribunal of Commerce pronounced the Banque d’Escompte de Paris bankrupt in February 1894. The baron de Soubeyran was arrested and then freed, but his goods were all liquidated, and so, ruined, he died three years later.

External links

His page
on the Assemblée nationale site {{DEFAULTSORT:Soubeyran, Jean-Marie, Baron De 1828 births 1897 deaths Politicians from Paris Bonapartists Members of the 3rd Corps législatif of the Second French Empire Members of the 4th Corps législatif of the Second French Empire Members of the National Assembly (1871) Members of the 1st Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 2nd Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 3rd Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 4th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 5th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic French bankers French mass media owners 19th-century French businesspeople Officers of the Legion of Honour