Privat Joseph Claramont, comte Pelet de la Lozère (12 July 1785 – 9 February 1871) was a French administrator and politician. He served under the regime of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

, and as a prefect under the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * ...

. He was a Deputy from 1827 until 1837, when he was made a Peer of France. He was Minister of Education in 1836 and Minister of Finance in 1840.

Early years

Privat Joseph Claramont, Count Pelet de la Lozère, was born on 12 July 1785 in Saint-Jean-du-Gard, Gard. He was the oldest son of Jean Pelet de la Lozère (1759-1842), a deputy to the French National Convention, and of Marie Antoinette Rodier. Joseph Pelet joined the administration in the year VIII as a supernumerary at the Ministry of Interior. He was appointed auditor to the Council of State and Director of the Crown Forests in 1806. He was made Master of Requests in 1811 and administrator of the ''domaine extraordinaire'' in 1814.

Bourbon Restoration

During the

Pelet served from 24 February 1819 until 1823 as Prefect of

Loir-et-Cher Loir-et-Cher (, ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Its name is originated from two rivers which cross it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher in its southern part. Its prefecture is Blois. The INSEE and La P ...

. He was dismissed in 1823 by Jacques-Joseph Corbière due to suspicion of being a liberal, and perhaps also for being a Protestant. On 17 November 1827 he was elected deputy for the first district of Loir-et-Cher (Blois) and for the 2nd district of Loir-et-Cher (Vendôme). He chose to represent Blois. He took his seat on the center-left, and voted against the cabinet of

Jules de Polignac Jules Auguste Armand Marie de Polignac, Count of Polignac (; 14 May 178030 March 1847), then Prince of Polignac, and briefly 3rd Duke of Polignac in 1847, was a French statesman and ultra-royalist politician after the Revolution. He served as pr ...

. Pelet was reelected for Blois on 12 July 1830.

July monarchy

Pelet strongly supported the July Monarchy of 1830. He was reelected to Blois on 5 July 1831 and again on 21 June 1834. After the Cabinet of Édouard Adolphe Mortier was dissolved in February 1835 due to internal divisions, Marshal Soult was invited to form a new cabinet. He offered a post to Pelet, but Soult's proposed cabinet was blocked by the personal influence of king Louis Philippe. Pelet was appointed Minister of Public Education on 22 February 1836 in the First cabinet of Adolphe Thiers. The Pelet Law encouraged communes to have at least one primary school for girls. The Thiers cabinet was dissolved on 6 September 1836 due to a serious disagreement between the king and his advisers over policy regarding Spain. On leaving office Pelet became a leading member of the opposition to the government of

Louis-Mathieu Molé Louis-Mathieu Molé (24 January 1781 – 23 November 1855), also 1st Count Molé from 1809 to 1815, was a French statesman, close friend and associate of Louis Philippe I, King of the French during the July Monarchy (1830–1848). Biograph ...

. In October 1837 he was promoted to the Chamber of Peers. As a peer Pelet supported the regime, but sometimes expressed independent views. The Molé government fell in April 1839, followed by a prolonged ministerial crisis. On 1 March 1840 Thiers was again called upon to form a cabinet from the center-left, and Pelet de la Lozère was given the Finance portfolio. On 21 October 1840 he resigned due to a crisis in Eastern affairs. He remained in the House of Peers until the

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...

of 1848 returned him to private life. Joseph Pelet de la Lozère died on 9 February 1871 in Villers-Cotterêts, Aisne, aged 85.

Works

*''Précis de l'histoire des Etats-Unis'' (1840)

References

Citations Sources * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pelet de la Lozere, Privat Joseph 1785 births 1871 deaths 19th-century French lawyers French Ministers of Justice and Religious Affairs People from Gard