Charles Célestin Auguste Jonnart (27 December 1857 – 30 December 1927) was a French politician.

Early years

Born into a bourgeois family in Fléchin, Pas-de-Calais, Charles Jonnart was educated at

Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; vls, Sint-Omaars) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Saint Audoma ...

, then in Paris. Interested in the Algeria that he had visited as a young man, he was appointed in 1881 by

Léon Gambetta Léon Gambetta (; 2 April 1838 – 31 December 1882) was a French lawyer and republican politician who proclaimed the French Third Republic in 1870 and played a prominent role in its early government. Early life and education Born in Cahors, Ga ...

to the office of Governor General of Algeria. In 1884, he was appointed director of the department's Algeria to the Ministry of Interior.

Political career

Beginning a political career as a liberal, he was elected in 1886 as General Counsel of Saint-Omer and in 1889 as member of Pas-de-Calais. He distinguished himself in the house by his frequent interventions on colonial issues including the organization of Algeria. Chosen in 1893 by Casimir Périer for the post of Minister of Public Works, he was elected in 1894 as Senator Pas-de-Calais. The same year, an automobile accident forced him to stop his ministry. During 1900, he returned to Algeria, where he was appointed Governor-General. He resigned for health reasons but in 1903 again returned to his post. He helped promote the career of the future Marshal

Hubert Lyautey Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey (17 November 1854 – 27 July 1934) was a French Army general and colonial administrator. After serving in Indochina and Madagascar, he became the first French Resident-General in Morocco from 1912 to 1925. Early in ...

. The latter, still colonel, was promoted to general and was entrusted by Jonnart with policy implementation in the region. In 1911, Charles Jonnart was appointed as foreign minister in the cabinet of

Aristide Briand Aristide Pierre Henri Briand (; 28 March 18627 March 1932) was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic. He is mainly remembered for his focus on international issues and reconciliat ...

. During the First World War, he was the Senate rapporteur of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He was briefly Minister of Blockade in the government of Clemenceau. Then, the Allied Powers chose him as authorized representative to force King Constantine of Greece to abdicate the throne. After the war, he became chairman of the Democratic Republican Party in 1920, and was then appointed ambassador of France to the Holy See, with the delicate mission to resume diplomatic relations with the Pope. He was elected to the Académie française on 19 April 1923. There is an interesting account of the 11 June 1917 ultimatum of Jonnart, who, as former Governor General of Algeria, had come to Greece by which King Constantine was forced to leave his country and to live in exile in Switzerland. It was composed by Despina Geroulanos-Streit, Erinnerungen, Athens, and privately printed 1981, pp. 64–69.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jonnart, Charles 1857 births 1927 deaths People from Pas-de-Calais Politicians from Hauts-de-France Democratic Republican Alliance politicians French Foreign Ministers Transport ministers of France French Ministers of Liberated Regions Members of the 5th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 6th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 7th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 8th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 9th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic Members of the 10th Chamber of Deputies of the French Third Republic French Senators of the Third Republic Senators of Pas-de-Calais Governors general of Algeria French people of World War I Members of the Académie Française