Charles-Joseph Pigeon (29 March 1838 – 18 March 1915) was born in

Le Mesnil-Lieubray Le Mesnil-Lieubray is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. Geography A small farming village situated by the banks of the Andelle river in the Pays de Bray, some northeast of Rouen at the junct ...

in Normandy in France. He started as a salesman in Le Bon Marché in Paris, where he became a close friend of

Ernest Cognacq Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor *Ernest, M ...

, subsequently the founder of the Samaritaine department store. Pigeon became a dealer in cycle lamps and other lamps. His invention and manufacture of the Pigeon lamp, a non-exploding gasoline lamp, in 1884 (exhibited at the ''Exposition universelle de 1900''), made him famous and wealthy. Pigeon D22

After his death he remains noted for his family grave in

Montparnasse Cemetery Montparnasse Cemetery (french: link=no, Cimetière du Montparnasse) is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city's 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery ...

in Paris, which he commissioned in 1905 to hold up to 18 family members. The main feature is a life-sized bronze sculpture of Pigeon (notebook and pencil in hand) and his wife lying on a bed, overlooked by an angel, which had been illuminated by a lamp for many years by his custodians.Philippe Jullian, ''Montmartre'', 1977, p.31

Notes

Sources and external links

Insecula.com: brief biography and photo of the monument

Flickr: photographs of Pigeon lamps

* ttps://archive.today/20130505053543/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/france/parisandaround/article721348.ece Daily Telegraph: description of tomb
Essorensen.com: Details of components of Pigeon lamp

Lampe Pigeon
reports of the international jury of the ''Exposition universelle de 1900'' 1838 births 1915 deaths 19th-century French engineers Engineers from Paris People from Dieppe, Seine-Maritime Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery 19th-century French inventors {{France-engineer-stub