| | 1 | Name: | Marquis de Francois Barbe-Marbois | | | Year Elected: | 1780 | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1/31/1745 | | | Death Date: | 1/14/1837 | | | | | | |
François, marquis de Barbé-Marbois (31 January 1745–14 January 1837) was a French statesman, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1780. Born in Metz, France, he began his diplomatic career working with American colonists. He then became an intendant of Santo Domingo in 1785 and, returning to France, served as deputy of the Council of Ancients a decade later. Not long after, his monarchist leanings forced him into exile in French Guiana. In 1800 Barbé-Marbois was able to return to France and, shortly after, became Minister of the Treasury. Three years later he successfully negotiated the Louisiana Purchase with the United States, selling the territory of Louisiana for a much better price than initially expected. Still, in 1806 Napoleon dismissed Barbé-Marbois after his role in the 1805 financial crisis surfaced. Nevertheless, he received an appointment as First President of the Cour des Comptes, an administrative court which handled the country’s public accounts. In 1813 he was made a senator and then a count. Upon Napoleon’s imminent demise, he switched allegiances and joined up with the Bourbons. This move proved lucrative for Barbé-Marbois: he became a Peer of France (1814), a Minister of Justice (1815-1816), and once again President of the Cour des Comptes (1816-1834). When the Bourbons were ousted he once again strategically switched alliances, aligning himself with the July Monarchy in 1834. He died three years later in Paris. (EB) | |
| 2 | Name: | Anne C. de la Luaerne | | | Year Elected: | 1780 | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Deceased
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| 3 | Name: | Jean-Baptiste Ternant | | | Year Elected: | 1780 | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Deceased
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| 4 | Name: | Charles Vallancey | | | Year Elected: | 1780 | | | Residency: | International | | | Living? : |
Deceased
| | | Birth Date: | 1726 | | | Death Date: | 8/8/1812 | | | | | | |
Charles Vallancey (c. 1726–8 August 1812) was a military officer, surveyor, historian, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1780. Vallancey was born in Flanders to French Huguenot parents and was educated at Eton College and the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. He was commissioned as an ensign in 1747 and was sent with his regiment to Ireland, where he would spend the rest of his life. Vallancey participated in a far-reaching surveying and map-making expedition of the Irish coast beginning in 1769. He rose through the military ranks slowly despite his demonstrable technical understanding of military engineering, eventually retiring with the title of general in 1803. Outside of his military service, Vallancey was an obsessive student of the history of the Irish language and culture. He was an advocate of the theory that ancient Irish civilization had its roots in Persian or Phoenecian cultures. Though his fellow scholars found this theory absurd and improbable, Vallancey managed to gain some acceptance in mainstream academic circles: he became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1784, a joint secretary of the Royal Dublin Society’s antiquities committee in 1772, and a founding member of the Royal Irish Academy in 1785. He helped this last institution obtain two important collections of ancient Irish literature: the Book of Lecan and the Leabhar Breac. Though his own publications were not highly regarded, his single-minded enthusiasm for Irish antiquity and mythology brought mainstream attention and new scholarship to the field throughout the 19th century. (DNB) | |
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