Charles Malo François Lameth (; 5 October 1757 – 28 December 1832) was a French politician and soldier.

Early life

Charles Malo François Lameth was born on 5 October 1757 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 ...

.Lameth (Charles Malo François, comte de)
''Histoire de France'', Paris: Larousse, 2005. His father was Louise Charles de Lameth and his mother, Marie Thérèse de Broglie.
GeneaNet His mother was the sister of the Marshall de Broglie and a favourite of

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...

.Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p.35

Career

He was in the

retinue A retinue is a body of persons "retained" in the service of a noble, royal personage, or dignitary; a ''suite'' (French "what follows") of retainers. Etymology The word, recorded in English since circa 1375, stems from Old French ''retenue'', ...

of the comte d'Artois (future

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Charles X Charles X may refer to: * Charles X of France (1757–1836) * Charles X Gustav (1622–1660), King of Sweden * Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon (1523–1590), recognized as Charles X of France but renounced the royal title See also * * King Charle ...

), and became an officer in a

cuirassier A cuirassier ( ; ; ) was a cavalryman equipped with a cuirass, sword, and pistols. Cuirassiers first appeared in mid-to-late 16th century Europe as a result of armoured cavalry, such as man-at-arms, men-at-arms and demi-lancers discarding their ...

regiment. He served in the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, and was a hero of the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. He was a Knight of the Order of Malta and a Knight of the Order of Saint Louis. Although he married a rich heiress from Saint Domingue, he was a founding member of the Society of the Friends of the Blacks in 1788. He was deputy to the

Estates-General of 1789 The Estates General of 1789 () was a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the clergy (First Estate), the nobility (Second Estate), and the commoners (Third Estate). It was the last of the Estates General of the Kingdom ...

, for the nobility, and was one of the first aristocrats to renounce his privileges on the night of 4 August 1789. He continued to serve in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

and National Constituent Assembly and in January 1791 repaid to the Treasury the 60,000 francs it had cost

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

to provide him and his brothers with an education at the

École Militaire École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

. In November 1790 he fought a duel with the Duc de Castries. The duke wounded him and it was briefly feared that he had tipped his sword with poison. Lameth was so popular that a mob stormed Castries' house in revenge. As the Assembly began to divide into factions, Lameth, a constitutional monarchist, was identified with the Feuillants and he was arrested in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

on 12 August 1792 for protesting against the Attack on the Tuileries. Since the French Revolution moved toward a

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

, he

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

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. He returned to France under the

Consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth countries, a ...

, was appointed Brigadier General in 1809 and fought in the Spanish War,Chronicle of the French Revolution, Longman 1989 p.668 and was appointed governor of

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

(in the Duchy of Würzburg) under the First Empire. In 1814, he rose to the rank of

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

. Like his brother Alexandre Lameth (but unlike his other one, Théodore de Lameth), Charles joined the Bourbon camp after the Restoration, succeeding Alexandre as deputy in 1829. In the final years of his life, he was nonetheless a noted supporter of the

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...

Personal life

He married Marie Anne Picot. They had two children. They resided at the Château d'Hénencourt in Hénencourt, Somme. He died on 28 December 1832.

Bibliography

* 1790
''Remontrances a mon neveu Charles de Lameth''
* 1790
''Recit fidele et exact de ce qui s'est passé entre M (le Duc de) Castries et M. (le Comte) Charles de Lameth''
* 1790
''Lettre du père éternel, a M. de Lameth''
* 1790
''Lettre de Charles Lameth. A son correspondant de Versailles M. Godad''
* 1790
''Diner patriotique de M. Charles Lameth, le samedi 23 mai 1790''
* 1790
''Attention. je le maintiens et le soutiens : il faut parler net pour se faire entendre''
* 1791
''Grand assassinat de Monsieur Charles Lameth, denoncé par lui-meme a l'Assemblée nationale; ou Memoire a consulter et consultation pour un grenadier de la Garde-nationale''

References

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and commonly known as the Order of Malta or the Knights of Malta, is a Catholic lay religious ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lameth, Charles Malo Francois 1757 births 1832 deaths First French Empire French generals Politicians from Paris People of the French Revolution Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Knights of the Order of Saint Louis Order of Saint Louis recipients Counts of France Jacobins Feuillants Members of the National Constituent Assembly (France) French military personnel of the American Revolutionary War Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe