Benjamin Raspail (; 16 August 1823 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 ...

– 24 September 1899 in

Cachan Cachan () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The prestigious École Spéciale des Travaux Publics is located there. Name During the Middle Ages, Cachan was referred to in Medieval ...

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...

, now

Val-de-Marne Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southeast of the City of Paris. In 2019, Val-de-Marne had a ...

), was a painter-engraver and politician of the

French Third Republic The French Third Republic (, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940, after the Fall of France durin ...

. He was the son of

François-Vincent Raspail François-Vincent Raspail, L.L.D., M.D. (; 25 January 1794 – 7 January 1878) was a French chemist, naturalist, physician, physiologist, attorney, and socialist politician. Biography Raspail was born in Carpentras, Vaucluse. A member of the ...

. Like his father, he was classed as extreme-left, and he went into exile in Belgium with his father from 1853. In 1874, following the death of

Eugène Lavenant Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".Arcueil Arcueil () is a Communes of France, commune in the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, department in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero#France, center of Paris. Name The name Arcueil was recorded f ...

as "premier conseiller inscrit au tableau". He was also a member of the

conseil général The departmental councils ( ; singular, ''conseil départemental'' ) of France are representative assemblies elected by universal suffrage in 98 of the country's 101 departments. Prior to the 2015 French departmental elections they were known ...

for

. As member of the council for Seine for the Republican left, Raspail proposed the law, on 21 May 1880, which made 14 July a national holiday in commemoration of the

storming of the Bastille The Storming of the Bastille ( ), which occurred in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, was an act of political violence by revolutionary insurgents who attempted to storm and seize control of the medieval armoury, fortress, and political prison k ...

and the

Fête de la Fédération The (; ) was a massive holiday festival held throughout Kingdom of France, France in 1790 in honour of the French Revolution, celebrating the Revolution itself, as well as national unity. It commemorated the revolution and events of 1789 which ...

. The bill was signed by 64 members, and was adopted by the

Assemblée Nationale The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the bicameral French Parliament under the Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known as () or deputies. There are 577 , each elected by ...

on 8 June and by the Sénat on 29 June. The bill was

promulgated Promulgation is the formal proclamation or the declaration that a new statutory or administrative law is enacted after its final approval. In some jurisdictions, this additional step is necessary before the law can take effect. After a new law i ...

on 6 July 1880. He also proposed the law to seize the

crown jewels Crown jewels are the objects of metalwork and jewellery in the regalia of a current or former monarchy. They are often used for the coronation of a monarch and a few other ceremonial occasions. A monarch may often be shown wearing them in portra ...

from the monarchy, which was passed on 11 January 1887. He lost a leg, which had to be amputated, following a chase in Épinay by a stone-throwing mob. Upon his death, Raspail bequeathed his estate in

to become a retirement home for people with work-related disabilities, and also a museum which would house his father's political documents and painting collection, as well as his own painting collection.

Electoral mandates

*1876–1877 : Seine *1877–1881 : Seine *1881–1885 : Seine *1885–1889 : Seine

External links

All about 14 July
People of the French Third Republic 1823 births 1899 deaths Politicians from Paris {{Seine-politician-stub