Joseph-Étienne Richard (known as 'Richard de la Sarthe') (28 September 1761

La Flèche La Flèche () is a town and commune in the French department of Sarthe, in the Pays de la Loire region in the Loire Valley. It is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton, and the second most p ...

- 17 August 1834 Saintes), was a French politician.

Under the Republic

Before the French Revolution he was admitted to the bar in 1788 and in 1790 was elected 'procureur syndic' of the commune of La Flèche, later becoming its public prosecutor. On 4 September 1791, he was elected député for

Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the '' Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It ha ...

to the Legislative Assembly, the seventh of ten elected, with 248 votes from 346 voters. On 3 September 1792 he was re-elected to the

National 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 and the ...

, this time at the head of the list, with a plurality of votes. At the

trial of Louis XVI The trial of Louis XVI—officially called "Citizen Louis Capet" since being dethroned—before the National Convention in December 1792 was a key event of the French Revolution. He was convicted of high treason and other crimes, resulting in ...

he voted for the king’s death. He was first sent as a représentant en mission to

and

Maine-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire () is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indr ...

where he took part in several victories over the Vendée rebels, establishing the first military commission (16 June 1793) and surveillance committee (18 October 1793) at

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

. On his return to Paris he was named secretary to the Convention. Two months later he was sent as a représentant on mission again, this time to the

Army of the North The Army of the North (), contemporaneously called Army of Peru (), was one of the armies deployed by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in the Spanish American wars of independence. Its objective was freeing the Argentine Northwest a ...

. He worked with the generals to restore discipline and gave the order that English soldiers in the garrisons of

Ypres Ypres ( ; ; ; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres/Ieper ...

and

Nieuport Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars. History Beginnings Originally formed as Nieuport-Duplex in ...

were to be treated as prisoners of war. He was still on mission at the time of the

Thermidorean reaction In the historiography of the French Revolution, the Thermidorian Reaction ( or ''Convention thermidorienne'', "Thermidorian Convention") is the common term for the period between the ousting of Maximilien Robespierre on 9 Thermidor II, or 27 J ...

and took no part in it. However on his return to Paris he was elected to the

Committee of Public Safety The Committee of Public Safety () was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. Supplementing the Committee of General D ...

in late 1794 and supported measures against the

Jacobins The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential List of polit ...

; he was at the head of the troops who cleared the chamber of the Jacobin Club. Elected once again to the

Council of Five Hundred The Council of Five Hundred () was the lower house of the legislature of the French First Republic under the Constitution of the Year III. It operated from 31 October 1795 to 9 November 1799 during the French Directory, Directory () period of t ...

, he retained his seat until 1797 and supported the

Coup of 18 Brumaire The Coup of 18 Brumaire () brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power as First Consul of the French First Republic. In the view of most historians, it ended the French Revolution and would soon lead to the coronation of Napoleon as Emperor of the Fr ...

. In 1795 he was sent once again to the Army of the North, where he freed a large number of émigrés who were due to be tried by a military commission at

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

. He also negotiated an agreement with the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic (; ) was the Succession of states, successor state to the Dutch Republic, Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 after the Batavian Revolution and ended on 5 June 1806, with the acce ...

whereby the Dutch agreed to maintain 25,000 French troops on their soil. In 1797 he was appointed to a senio post in the War Ministry.

Under Napoleon and Louis XVIII

He was appointed

préfet A prefect (, plural , both ) in France is the State's representative in a department or region. Regional prefects are ''ex officio'' the departmental prefects of the regional prefecture. Prefects are tasked with upholding the law in the departme ...

Haute-Garonne Haute-Garonne (; , ; ''Upper Garonne'') is a department in the southwestern French region of Occitanie. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country's fourth-largest. ...

on 7 Germinal Year VIII (28 March 1800) and held this post until 4 April 1806, then becoming préfet of

Charente-Inférieure Charente-Maritime (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Chérente-Marine''; ) is a department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, on the country's west coast. Named after the river Charente, its prefecture is La Rochelle. As of 2019, it had a po ...

(1806-1814, 1815). In 1808 he was elected to the Académie des belles-lettres, sciences et arts de

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

awarded him the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

on 25 prairial Year XII (14 June 1804), then granted him the titles first of

chevalier de l'Empire As Emperor of the French, Napoleon I created titles in a newly established ' (imperial nobility) to institute a stable elite in the First French Empire, after the instability resulting from the French Revolution. Like many others, both befo ...

on 18 June 1809, and then

baron de l'Empire As Emperor of the French, Napoleon I created titles in a newly established ' (imperial nobility) to institute a stable elite in the First French Empire, after the instability resulting from the French Revolution. Like many others, both befo ...

on 9 March 1810. Under the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * Ab ...

he was dismissed but soon recalled and appointed préfet of

Calvados Calvados (, , ) is a brandy from Normandy in France, made from apples and/or pears. History In France Apple orchards and brewers are mentioned as far back as the 8th century by Charlemagne. The first known record of Norman distillation was ma ...

in 1815. He resigned again in 1816 when the law of 12 January 1816 proscribing regicides was passed, but he retired quietly to Saintes and no action was taken against him. As well as being exempted from the provisions of this law, the government granted him a pension of 6.000 francs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richard, Joseph-Étienne 1761 births 1834 deaths Regicides of Louis XVI People on the Committee of Public Safety Members of the Council of Five Hundred