René Jean Albert Petitbon (18 August 1902 – 2 February 1965)René Petitbon (1902-1965)
BNF was a French colonial administrator who served as Governor of French Polynesia and

French Somaliland French Somaliland (; ; ) was a French colony in the Horn of Africa. It existed between 1884 and 1967, at which became the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas. The Republic of Djibouti is its legal successor state. History French Somalil ...

in the 1950s.

Biography

Petitbon was born in Pau in 1902, the brother of writer and journalist . After earning a Bachelor of the Arts in 1923, he completed his military service between 1925 and 1926. He then taught in lycées in

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

and

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...

until joining the Alsatian Bank Society in 1928.PETITBON, René Jean Albert ...
France Archives He became deputy director for the

Haut-Rhin Haut-Rhin (); Alsatian: ''Owerelsàss'' or '; , . is a department in the Grand Est region, France, bordering both Germany and Switzerland. It is named after the river Rhine; its name means Upper Rhine. Haut-Rhin is the smaller and less pop ...

region in 1935 and then served as director general of the Banques Populaire of the North Paris region from 1937 until 1944. A member of the resistance during the Nazi occupation, he was appointed prefect of

Aube Aube ( ) is a French departments of France, department in the Grand Est region of northeastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube (river), Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019),

in 1944. The following year he relocated to

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

to become prefect of

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I * Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine g ...

, a role he held until 1949. He then became Inspector General of Administrative Affairs in

French West Africa French West Africa (, ) was a federation of eight French colonial empires#Second French colonial empire, French colonial territories in West Africa: Colonial Mauritania, Mauritania, French Senegal, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guin ...

. He was appointed Governor of French Polynesia in 1950, remaining in post until 1954 when he was appointed Governor of

.Mr. Rene Petitbon
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', March 1965, p144 He served in French Somaliland until 1957, and later worked in Algeria again between 1961 and 1962. He died in Paris in 1965 at the age of 62.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petitbon, Rene 1902 births People from Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques French educators French bankers French Resistance members Prefects of Aube Prefects of Constantine People of French West Africa Governors of French Polynesia Colonial governors of French Somaliland 1965 deaths