Jacques Laffitte

France state institutions Liberalism and republicanism 1767–1844 ○ Natural causes

Banker who helped put Louis-Philippe on the throne in 1830 and led the Party of Movement's ministry

Born in Bayonne in 1767, the son of a master carpenter, he joined the Paris bank of Jean-Frédéric Perregaux as a bookkeeper in 1788 and in 1807 became its effective head. In 1814 Louis XVIII named him provisional governor of the Bank of France, which he governed until 1820. Elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1815, he spoke for the liberal left throughout the Restoration in support of constitutional monarchy and freedom of the press. He played a decisive role in the Revolution of 1830 that brought Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, to the throne. On 2 November 1830 he became President of the Council and Minister of Finance, but after 131 days his Party of Movement gave way on 13 March 1831 to the Party of Order led by Casimir Perier. He left office discredited and ruined, recovered in 1836 by founding the Caisse Générale du Commerce et de l'Industrie, and died in 1844.