Louis-Joseph Janvier (; May 7, 1855 – 24 March 1911, registered as Jean Baptiste Louis Janvier) was a

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

an journalist, diplomat and novelist, who also served as Haitian Minister Resident in London from 1894–1903.

Biography

Louis-Joseph Janvier was born in

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

, Haiti on 7 March 1855, one of many children of Joseph Janvier and Louisine For

He attended medical school in Haiti before moving to France to finish his education, and received a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in medicine there in 1881. He also earned a law license and degrees in administration, economics, finance, and diplomacy. While in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, Janvier became interested in journalism and wrote several articles, such as "La République d'Haïti et ses Visiteurs", "Haïti aux Haïtiens", and "L'Egalité des Races." He also wrote several novels about Haitian life. In 1897 he married

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

-born Jane Maria Windsor (1869-1908) and had at least two children. His daughter Amelie Alexina Janvier (born in Haiti in 1908) was mother to the French writer and poet Ludovic Janvier. He remained in Europe for twenty-eight years, returning to Haiti once before dying in Paris at age fifty-five.

Selected works

* "La République d'Haïti et ses Visiteurs" (1883) – article, * "L'Egalité des Races" (1884) – article, * "Haïti aux Haïtiens" (1884) – article, * "Les Affaires d'Haiti" (1885) – historical article * ''Les Constitutions d'Haïti'' (1886) – * ''Le Vieux Piquet'' (1888) – novel * ''Une Chercheuse'' (1889) – novel
''Elections Legislatives de 1908''
(1908) in th
Digital Library of the Caribbean

References

* 1855 births 1911 deaths Haitian journalists 19th-century Haitian novelists Haitian male novelists People from Port-au-Prince 19th-century Haitian male writers Ambassadors of Haiti to the United Kingdom {{Haiti-journalist-stub