Benjamin Nicolas Marie Appert (10 September 17971847) was a French

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

Life

Appert was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. As a young man he introduced a system of mutual instruction into the regimental schools of the ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'' of the

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. Its success encouraged him to publish a ''Manual'' setting forth his system. While engaged in teaching prisoners at Montaigu jail, he fell under suspicion of having connived at the escape of two of them, and was thrown into the prison of La Force. On his release, he resolved to devote the rest of his life to bettering the condition of those whose lot he had for a time shared, and he travelled much over Europe to study the various systems of prison discipline, and wrote several books on the subject. After the revolution of 1830, he became secretary to Queen Marie Amélie Therese and organized the measures taken for the relief of the needy. He was decorated with the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

in 1833.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Appert, Benjamin Nicolas Marie 1797 births 1847 deaths 19th-century French educators 19th-century French philanthropists Recipients of the Legion of Honour