Jean de La Rochefoucauld-Bayers
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27 June 1757
Jean de La Rochefoucauld-Bayers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Peer of France | |
| In office 17 August 1815 – 8 January 1832 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jean Baptiste de La Rochefoucauld-Bayers 27 June 1757 |
| Died | 1 February 1834 (aged 76) |
| Spouse |
Denise de Mauroy
(m. 1798; died 1834) |
| Children | François Denis Henri Albert de La Rochefoucauld |
| Parent(s) | Jacques-Louis de La Rochefoucauld-Bayers Suzanne Poictevin du Plessis-Landry |
| Awards | Order of Saint-Louis Order of the Holy Spirit Order of Saint-Michel |
Jean Baptiste de La Rochefoucauld-Bayers, 1st Baron of La Rochefoucauld-Bayers (27 June 1757 – 1 February 1834) was a French soldier in the Armée des Émigrés and ultra-royalist politician during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Jean Baptiste was born on 27 June 1757 at the Château de la Boislivière in Apremont, Vendée. He was the third son of Jacques-Louis I de La Rochefoucauld (1717–1798), Lord of Beaulieu, and Suzanne Poictevin du Plessis-Landry de La Rochette (1725–1793). He had at least eight brothers and sisters, including Jacques-Louis II, Marquis of La Rochefoucauld-Bayers; Charles-François de La Rochefoucauld-Bayers, deputy to the Estates General of 1789; and Pierre Aimé de La Rochefoucauld-Bayers, Lord of Breuil.[1]
His paternal grandparents were René Claude de La Rochefoucauld, Captain General of the Coast Guard, and Anne Louise Robert de Lézardière. His maternal grandparents were Louis Poictevin, Lord of la Guittière, and Suzanne Thomasset.[1]
Career
He entered service in the Auvergne regiment on 1 January 1772, was appointed Captain in the regiment of La Rochefoucauld Dragoons, the 28 January 1778 then Colonel of Infantry. He emigrated in 1790, and created Maréchal de camp on 1 January 1796. Baron de La Rochefoucauld made all the campaigns in the corps of Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé, first as First Aide-Major-General of the Household, then, from 1797, as Major-General. King Louis XVIII charged him with several important missions, and in particular that of negotiating in Saint Petersburg, the transfer to the service of the Army of Condé with Emperor Paul I of Russia in 1797. Shortly after, Baron de la Rochefoucauld was made a Commander of the Russian Order of Saint John of Jerusalem at the Grand Priory of Russia.[1]
Returning to France in 1802, he had trouble with the imperial police, and was detained for nine months, despite the intervention of his relative, the Countess of La Rochefoucauld, dame d'honneur to the French Empress Joséphine. Two years later, he refused the rank of Division General and the restitution of 700,000 francs which he claimed from Emperor Napoleon I.[1]
After the Bourbon Restoration, the King promoted him to Lieutenant-General of the Armies on 13 August 1814, Director of the Dépôt de la Guerre and created a Peer of France on 17 August 1815.[2] He was then, successively, Inspector General of Cavalry in 1816, and Commander, then Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Louis, on 30 September 1818 and 21 August 1822, and Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit in 1827.[1]
The Baron of La Rochefoucauld-Bayers was a member of the Commission responsible for examining the services of former emigrants and Vendée. He was called to the government of the 12th Military Division in July 1823, and chaired the General Council of the department of Aude in 1825.[1]
He resigned as a peer in 1832 and died two years later as a result of paralysis which he had suffered in 1830, upon learning the false news of the death of his son, a captain in the Royal Guard, during the July Revolution.[1]
