Charles-François Lebrun
Third Consul, Duke of Plaisance
Pronunciation:
Charles-François Lebrun was born on March 19, 1739 in La Bouchelière, a small village near Saint-Sauveur-Lendelin (now in the Manche département).
A Tiers-Etat deputy at the Constituent Assembly, then a member of the Conseil des Anciens under the Directoire, he became Third Consul in December 1799, and was appointed Prince-Archtreasurer and Duc de Plaisance under the Empire. During his various mandates, he focused on the financial and economic aspects of public life.
This experience led him, along with Nicolas-François Mollien, to be one of the founders of the Cour des Comptes.
In 1810, he was commissioned by Napoleon I to organize the incorporation of the Kingdom of Holland into France, and became Governor General of the departments of Holland until 1813.
He died in Sainte-Mesme (now part of the Yvelines département) on June 14, 1824, the victim of a fall caused by the clumsiness of a servant. His superb tomb is in Paris, in the Père Lachaise cemetery, 5th division.
"Charles-François Lebrun, Duke of Plaisance" by Robert Jacques François Faust Lefèvre (Bayeux 1755 - Paris 1830).
His son Anne-Charles Lebrun, created Comte de Lohra et de l'Empire on August 15, 1810, had a brilliant military career: colonel of the hussars in 1804, brigadier general and inspector general of cavalry in 1807, he earned his stars as major general before the French invasion of Russia. He married the only daughter of François de Barbé-Marbois and became a senator under the Second Empire. He was responsible for the creation of the St. Helena Medal in 1857, awarded to former soldiers of the First Empire who were still alive at the time.