Antoine Jean Baptiste Robert Auget, Baron de Montyon (23 December 173329 December 1820) was a French

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

, born in

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Biography

His father was a ''maître des comptes''; he was educated in law, and became a lawyer at the Châtelet in 1755, ''

maître des requêtes A Master of Requests () is a counsel of the French ''Conseil d'État'' (Council of State), a high-level judicial officer of administrative law in France. The office has existed in one form or another since the Middle Ages. The occupational titl ...

'' to the Conseil d'État in 1760, and

intendant An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In ...

successively of

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and

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. He had repeatedly shown great independence of character, protesting against the accusation of

Louis-René de Caradeuc de La Chalotais Louis-René de Caradeuc de La Chalotais (March 6, 1701 – July 12, 1785) was a French jurist who is primarily remembered for his role on the so-called "Brittany Affair", in which the Breton Parlement resisted the authority of the French mo ...

in 1766, and refusing in 1771 to suppress the local courts of justice in obedience to Maupeou. He was made a councillor of state in 1775 by the influence of Louis de Bourbon, duke of Penthièvre, and in 1780 he was attached to the court in the honorary office of chancellor to the comte d'Artois (afterwards

Charles X Charles X (born Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI and Loui ...

). He followed the princes into exile, and lived for some years in

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. During the emigration period he spent large sums on the alleviation of the poverty of his fellow immigrants, returning to France only at the second restoration. Endnotes: * Lacretelle, "Discours sur M. Montyon", in the ''Recueil de l'académie'' (1820–1829) * Quérard, ''La France littéraire'', vol. vi. (1834) * F. Labour, ''M. de Montyon d'après des documents inédits'' (Paris, 1880) * G. Dumoulin, ''Montyon'' (Paris, 1884) * L. Guimbaud, ''Auget de Montyon'' (1909) Between 1780 and 1787 he had founded a series of prizes, the awards to be made by the

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and the academies of science and medicine. These prizes fell into abeyance during the revolutionary period, but were re-established in 1815. In 1812 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...

of London. When Montyon died, he bequeathed 12,000 francs for the perpetual endowment of each of the following prizes: for the discovery of the means of rendering some mechanical process less dangerous to the workman; for the perfecting of any technical improvement in a mechanical process; for the book which during the year rendered the greatest service to humanity; the "prix de vertu" for the most courageous act on the part of a poor Frenchman; the awards being left as before to the learned academies. He also left 12,000 francs to each of the Parisian hospitals. Montyon wrote a series of works, chiefly on political economy: * ''Éloge de Michel de l'hôpital'' (Paris, 1777) * ''Recherches et considérations sur la population de la France'' (1778), a share of which is attributed to his secretary, Moheau * ''Rapport fait à Louis XVIII'' (Constance, 1796), in which he maintained in opposition to Calonne's ''Tableau de l'Europe'' that France had always possessed a constitution, which had, however, been violated by the kings of France * ''L'état statistique du Tunkin'' (1811) ; and ''Particularités... sur les ministres des finances en France'' (1812).

Notes

References

Catholic Encyclopedia article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montyon, Jean Baptiste Antoine Auget De 1733 births 1820 deaths Politicians from Paris French politicians French philanthropists Fellows of the Royal Society