Jules Pams (14 August 1852 – 12 May 1930) was a French politician who was a deputy from 1893 to 1904, then a senator from 1904 to 1930. He was Minister of Agriculture from 1911 to 1913 and Minister of the Interior from 1917 to 1920. In 1913 he was a candidate for the presidency of France. He is known for the "Hôtel Pams", a mansion in

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

that was redesigned and decorated to his taste, and is now a conference center.

Early years

Jules Pams was born on 14 August 1852 in

, Pyrénées-Orientales, to a leading family in that city. His great grandfather came from humble origins and rose to become vice-consul to the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern Maritime republics, maritime republic from the years 1099 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italy, Italian coast. During the Late Middle Ages, it was a major commercial power in ...

. His grandfather, a successful businessman of

Port-Vendres Port-Vendres (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales Departments of France, department, southeastern France. A typical Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean fishing port, situated near the Spanish border on the Côte Vermei ...

, became vice-consul to

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

. Jules Pams attended the

lycée Charlemagne The Lycée Charlemagne () is located in the Marais quarter of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, the capital city of France. Constructed many centuries before it became a lycée, the building originally served as the home of the Order of the Je ...

and then the Faculty of Law of Paris. After graduating he became an attorney in Perpignan. In 1889 Pams ran for election to the legislature on the Radical list but was not elected. He became a member of the general council of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in 1892, representing the canton of Argelès-sur-Mer. He was a member of the general council for thirty six years, and its president for fifteen years. In 1888 Jules Pams married Jeanne Bardou, one of the heiresses of the JOB cigarette paper company founded by Jean Bardou. Her father, Pierre Bardou, son of the founder, had bought several properties on the rue Saint-Sauveur (rue E. Zola) between 1852 and 1872 and built a town house on the site illuminated by a magnificent glass roof. Pams and his wife lived in this house, and after the death of Pierre Bardou in 1892 employed the architect and designer Léopold Carlier (1839–1922) to transform it. The renovation in 1894–97 added gold, marble and onyx throughout, with

marquetry Marquetry (also spelled as marqueterie; from the French ''marqueter'', to variegate) is the art and craft of applying pieces of wood veneer, veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns or designs. The technique may be applied to case furn ...

furniture and paintings by

Paul Gervais Paul Gervais (full name: François Louis Paul Gervais) (26 September 1816 – 10 February 1879) was a French palaeontologist and entomologist. Biography Gervais was born in Paris, where he obtained the diplomas of doctor of science and of medic ...

. The " Hôtel Pams" became the social focus of the wealthy elite of the city. Jeanne died in 1916. Pams married Marguerite Holtzer in 1918.

National politics

Pams ran again for election as a deputy in 1893 and was elected in the first round. He was reelected in 1898 and 1902. He was elected to the Senate on 25 December 1904, and was reelected in 1909, 1920 and 1927. He was mainly involved in issues related to wine and the marine. Pams was appointed Minister of Agriculture on 2 March 1911 in the cabinet of Ernest Monis, and retained this portfolio in the subsequent cabinets of Joseph Caillaux and

Raymond Poincaré Raymond Nicolas Landry Poincaré (; 20 August 1860 – 15 October 1934) was a French statesman who served as President of France from 1913 to 1920, and three times as Prime Minister of France. He was a conservative leader, primarily committed to ...

, leaving office on 17 January 1913. Pams was the originator of the ''

appellation d'origine contrôlée In France, the ''appellation d'origine contrôlée'' (, ; abbr. AOC ) is a label that identifies an agricultural product whose stages of production and processing are carried out in a defined geographical area – the ''terroir'' – and using ...

'' of the sweet wines of his region. He arranged the great naval review on 15 September 1911 in Port-Vendres. On 2 March 1913 he inaugurated the new road from Banyuls to

Cerbère Cerbère (; ) is a commune and railway town in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.Georges Clemenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who was Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A physician turned journalist, he played a central role in the poli ...

encouraged Pams to stand for election as

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the po ...

, but he was beaten in the second round of voting by Poincaré. Pams was relatively obscure by comparison to the very experienced Poincaré. As the Socialist

Jean Jaurès Auguste Marie Joseph Jean Léon Jaurès (3 September 185931 July 1914), commonly referred to as Jean Jaurès (; ), was a French socialist leader. Initially a Moderate Republican, he later became a social democrat and one of the first possibi ...

said, "In these difficult times, how can the Radicals offer France and the Republic a man who has never revealed, either in opposition of in office, either in debate or in action, any real measure of ability?" On 16 November 1917 Pams was appointed

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

by Clemenceau. In April 1919 Pams circulated instructions to prefects that interpreted the 1905 law of separation of church and state as meaning crosses were allowed in monuments in cemeteries, but not on monuments on public roads. After retiring from the ministry on 20 January 1920 Pams went into semi-retirement, although in 1927 he was a delegate to the 8th meeting of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

. Jules Pams died at the age of 77 on 12 May 1930 in Paris after a long illness.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pams, Jules 1835 births 1930 deaths People from Perpignan Politicians from Occitania (administrative region) Radical Party (France) politicians Ministers of agriculture of France French interior ministers 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 French senators of the Third Republic Senators of Pyrénées-Orientales