Charles Paul Émile Hugot (1904–1993), known as Émile Hugot was a sugar technologist, manager of sugar factories and he wrote the standard text on engineering in sugar factories.

Early life and education

Hugot was born in

Saint-Denis, Réunion Saint-Denis (, ; ), unofficially Saint-Denis de La Réunion () for disambiguation, is the prefectures in France, prefecture (administrative capital) of the France, French overseas department and region of Réunion, in the Indian Ocean. It is lo ...

in 1904 and died in the same city in 1993. Emile Hugot pursued his secondary education at the Leconte de Lisle High School (''Collège Bourbon'') and later at the ''

Lycée Saint-Louis The Lycée Saint-Louis () is a selective post-secondary school located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, 6th arrondissement of Paris, in the Latin Quarter. It is the only state-funded French lycée that exclusively offers ''Classe Préparatoir ...

'' in Paris. He continued his studies at the '' Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures'' in Paris in 1923, after gaining his engineering degree he did military service, training as a cadet officer at the artillery school in

Poitiers Poitiers is a city on the river Clain in west-central France. It is a commune in France, commune, the capital of the Vienne (department), Vienne department and the historical center of Poitou, Poitou Province. In 2021, it had a population of 9 ...

, he became a lieutenant in the artillery in

Blida Blida () is a city in Algeria. It is the capital of Blida Province, and it is located about 45 km south-west of Algiers, the national capital. The name ''Blida'', i.e. ''bulaydah'', is a diminutive of the Arabic word ''belda'', city. Ge ...

, Algeria. He returned to civilian life as a trainee chemist at the sugar factories on the French mainland at Artres and Bucy-le-Long before returning to

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

in May 1928.

Working life on Réunion

On Réunion he was engineer-surveyor to the Hydro-Electric Company of Reunion (SHER) from 1928 to 1929. At that time sugar factories were in need of energy, and so his objective was to capture the energy in the

Rivière des Marsouins The Rivière des Marsouins is a river on the Indian Ocean island of Réunion, which is an overseas department and region of France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its ...

to produce 36,000 kWh. He briefly joined his father's business offices, after which he became CEO of the Sugar Company Adam de Villiers (at La Mare) in 1932 and the Eperon Agricultural and Industrial Company (''Société Agricole et Industrielle de l'Eperon'').

Military service

At the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Hugot was mobilized as the

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to f ...

commander at Pointe des Galets fighting on the side of

Vichy France Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...

. He was wounded in the

Battle of Réunion The Battle of Réunion or Liberation of Réunion () was an amphibious landing and uprising which brought the island of Réunion onto the Allied side during the Second World War. The invasion was performed by the Free French Naval Forces (FNFL) ...

and was transferred to England. In London, he was assigned to the General Staff of the

Free French Forces __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army ( ; AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (; FFL) during World War II. The military force of Free France, it participated ...

and participated in the Alsace campaign before being sent to the front of the Alps. He was promoted to Captain on 25 September and discharged on 28 September 1945.

Return to sugar

He returned to Réunion to devote himself to the sugar industry. He restructured the sugar industry of Réunion by amalgamating estates and factories of La Mare, Savanna and Grand Bois and the sugar estates of Convenance and Eperon and founded the ''Société des Sucreries de Bourbon'', which has become the

Bourbon (group) Bourbon is a French shipping company, based in Marseilles. Bourbon operates in the field of surface and submarine maritime services, on oil, gas and wind farms. The company has 6,820 employees, and the group is present in more than 30 countries. ...

. He became the CEO of Bourbon Sugar from its inception in 1948 and he remained in that position until 1979. He amalgamated the factory and the estates of Stella in 1952. He was the founder of the Savanna Distillery. Hugot is known throughout the world for his magisterial work on cane sugar engineering. He had six children with Mary Noëmie Renée Jeanne Reydellet.

Commemoration

A school in

has been named after him.

Publications

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Notes and references

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External links

Collège Emile Hugot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hugot, Emile French mechanical engineers French military personnel of World War II People from Saint-Denis, Réunion Sugar technologists 1904 births 1993 deaths