François Louis Jean-Joseph de Laborde (1761–1801) was a French banker, deputy for the
Third Estate
The estates of the realm, or three estates, were the broad orders of social hierarchy used in Christendom (Christian Europe) from the Middle Ages to early modern Europe. Different systems for dividing society members into estates developed and ...
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 ...
and garden lover. He also bore the name Méréville after his huge estate at
château de Méréville
The Château de Méréville is a chateau in Méréville in the valley of the Juine, France. It is the rival of the Désert de Retz as two of the most extensive Landscape Gardens provided with follies and picturesque features — ''parcs à fab ...
in
Beauce Beauce may refer to:
* Beauce, France, a natural region in north-central France
* Beaucé, a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department, Brittany, France
* Beauce, Quebec
Beauce (; ) is a historical and traditional region of Quebec, Canada, lo ...
, acquired by his father under Louis XVI.
Life
His father was
Jean-Joseph de Laborde
Jean Joseph de Laborde, Marquis of Laborde (29 January 1724 – 18 April 1794) was a French businessman, slave trader, ''fermier général'' and banker to the king, who turned politician. A liberal, he was guillotined in the French Revolution. ...
, one of the richest financiers under
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...
and
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...
, while his mother was Rosalie de Nettine (1737-1820), linked to a family of bankers linked to the
Austrian Imperial Court. His brother,
Édouard Jean Joseph, was an explorer. He fought in the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
under the command of
Rochambeau. He was a cousin of the prince de Poix and thus related, via his sister Nathalie, to
La Fayette.
He was procurator general and special procurator for his father before living in
Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1803. The name derives from the Spanish main city on the isl ...
. In 1789, he became a member of the Committee of Thirty, which gathered in the home of
Adrien Duport
Adrien Duport (; 6 February 17596 July 1798) was a French politician, and lawyer. He was an influential advocate in the parlement, and was prominent in opposition to the ministers Calonne and Loménie de Brienne.
Life
Adrien Jean-François Dupo ...
to prepare for the election of the deputies to the
Estates General. He was elected deputy of the third estate for
Étampes
Étampes () is a Communes of France, commune in the functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southwest from the Kilometre zero#France, center of Paris (as the crow flies). Étampes is a Subprefectures in ...
. He entered a relationship with Madamoiselle Cabarrus, who later became the Marquise of Fontenay; she was probably his mistress at the start of the
French Revolution.
In 1792, he bought part of the
Orléans Collection
The Orleans Collection was a very important collection of over 500 paintings formed by Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, mostly acquired between about 1700 and his death in 1723. Apart from the great royal-become-national collections of Europe it is ...
from the Brussels banker
Édouard de Walckiers for nearly a million francs before transporting it to London. He made his money by selling all the paintings to
Michael Bryan in 1798 for £43,500.
[ ]Victor Champier
The name Victor or Viktor may refer to:
* Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname
Arts and entertainment
Film
* ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film
* ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...
, ''Le Palais-Royal d'après des documents inédits (1629-1900)'', Paris, Société de propagation des livres d'art, 1900, p. 447. He was an associate of the bankers
Walter Boyd and William Ker of the banking house Boyd, Ker & Cie, rue de Grammont. Boyd and Ker were involved with politicians, allowing de Laborde to organise the money distribution network during the Revolutionary troubles, which would have a major impact on some members of the
French Convention
The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly (France), N ...
and some of Paris' city administrators.
On 10 August 1792, de Laborde joined a secret counter-revolutionary plot with his maternal uncle,
Charles Alexandre de Calonne
Charles Alexandre de Calonne (20 January 173430 October 1802), titled Count of Hannonville in 1759, was a French statesman, best known for being Louis XVI's Controller-General of Finances (minister of finance) in the years leading up to the Frenc ...
, Louis XVI's former minister. He also made
Dominique Joseph Garat
Dominique Joseph Garat (8 September 17499 December 1833) was a French Basque writer, lawyer, journalist, philosopher and politician.
Biography
Garat was born at Bayonne, in the French Basque Country. After a good education under the directio ...
minister for the interior, then financed the Exagérés' struggle against the Convention, and finally emigrated to London after March 1793. His father was guillotined, but his mother escaped the same fate. On 6 Messidor Year III, he demanded to be removed from the list of
émigrés; his mother tried to help him regularise his situation but failed. He died in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
in 1801.
Sources
* « François Louis Jean-Joseph de Laborde de Méréville », dans Adolphe Robert et Gaston Cougny, Dictionnaire des parlementaires français, Edgar Bourloton, 1889-1891
*
Fiche sur Assemblée nationale
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laborde, Francois Louis Jean-Joseph
French bankers
1761 births
1801 deaths
Members of the National Constituent Assembly (France)
French military personnel of the American Revolutionary War