Charles Malo François Lameth

Template:Short description Template:Infobox person Charles Malo François Lameth (Template:IPA; 5 October 1757 – 28 December 1832) was a French politician and soldier.

Early life

Charles Malo François Lameth was born on 5 October 1757 in Paris.<ref name="larousse">Lameth (Charles Malo François, comte de), Histoire de France, Paris: Larousse, 2005.</ref> His father was Louise Charles de Lameth and his mother, Marie Thérèse de Broglie.<ref name="geneanet">[1], GeneaNet</ref> His mother was the sister of the Marshall de Broglie and a favourite of Marie Antoinette.<ref name="French Revolution p.35">Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p.35</ref>

Career

He was in the retinue of the comte d'Artois (future King Charles X), and became an officer in a cuirassier regiment.<ref name="French Revolution p.35"/> He served in the American War of Independence,<ref name="dictionary">Template:Cite book</ref> and was a hero of the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.<ref name="French Revolution p.35"/> He was a Knight of the Order of Malta and a Knight of the Order of Saint Louis.<ref>Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p.36</ref>

Although he married a rich heiress from Saint Domingue, he was a founding member of the Society of the Friends of the Blacks in 1788.<ref name="larousse"/>

He was deputy to the Estates-General of 1789,<ref name=dictionary/> for the nobility, and was one of the first aristocrats to renounce his privileges on the night of 4 August 1789.<ref>Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p.193</ref> He continued to serve in the National Assembly and National Constituent Assembly and in January 1791 repaid to the Treasury the 60,000 francs it had cost Louis XVI to provide him and his brothers with an education at the École Militaire.<ref>Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman, 1989 p.193</ref> In November 1790 he fought a duel with the Duc de Castries. The duke wounded him and it was briefly feared that he had tipped his sword with poison. Lameth was so popular that a mob stormed Castries' house in revenge.<ref>Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p.179</ref> As the Assembly began to divide into factions, Lameth, a constitutional monarchist, was identified with the Feuillants<ref name="larousse"/> and he was arrested in Rouen on 12 August 1792 for protesting against the Attack on the Tuileries.<ref>Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman, 1989 p.282</ref> Since the French Revolution moved toward a Republic, he emigrated to Hamburg.<ref name="larousse"/>

He returned to France under the Consulate, was appointed Brigadier General in 1809 and fought in the Spanish War,<ref name="French Revolution p.668">Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p.668</ref> and was appointed governor of Würzburg (in the Duchy of Würzburg) under the First Empire. In 1814, he rose to the rank of Lieutenant General. Like his brother Alexandre Lameth (but unlike his other one, Théodore de Lameth), Charles joined the Bourbon camp after the Restoration, succeeding Alexandre as deputy in 1829.<ref name="larousse"/> In the final years of his life, he was nonetheless a noted supporter of the July Monarchy.<ref name="larousse"/><ref name="French Revolution p.668"/>

Personal life

File:Hénencourt château 6.jpg

Château d'Hénencourt.

He married Marie Anne Picot.<ref name="geneanet"/> They had two children.<ref name="geneanet"/> They resided at the Château d'Hénencourt in Hénencourt, Somme.<ref>Template:Base Mérimée</ref>

He died on 28 December 1832.<ref name="larousse"/>

Bibliography

• 1790 - Remontrances a mon neveu Charles de Lameth
• 1790 - Recit fidele et exact de ce qui s'est passé entre M (le Duc de) Castries et M. (le Comte) Charles de Lameth
• 1790 - Lettre du père éternel, a M. de Lameth
• 1790 - Lettre de Charles Lameth. A son correspondant de Versailles M. Godad
• 1790 - Diner patriotique de M. Charles Lameth, le samedi 23 mai 1790
• 1790 - Attention. je le maintiens et le soutiens : il faut parler net pour se faire entendre
• 1791 - Grand assassinat de Monsieur Charles Lameth, denoncé par lui-meme a l'Assemblée nationale; ou Memoire a consulter et consultation pour un grenadier de la Garde-nationale

References

Template:French Revolution navbox Sovereign Military Order of Malta Template:Authority control