| Jacques Louis Randon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 25 March 1795 Grenoble, Dauphiné, France |
| Died | 16 January 1871 (aged 75) Geneva, Switzerland |
| Allegiance | France |
| Service | French Army |
| Rank | Général de division |
| Battles / wars | Napoleonic Wars Franco-Austrian War Pacification of Algeria |
| Awards | Marshal of France Grand Croix of the Legion of Honor |
| Spouse(s) | Clotilde Périer, Zénaïde Suin |
| Other work | Minister of War |
Jacques Louis César Alexandre Randon, 1st Count Randon (25 March 1795 – 16 January 1871) was a French military and political leader, also Marshal of France and governor of Algeria.
Early life
He was born at Grenoble in Dauphiné, of a Protestant family. Later in life he converted to Catholicism, under the influence of his second wife. He was a nephew of General Jean-Gabriel, Count Marchand, Also a Revolutionary Antoine-Joseph Barnave was a first cousin of his mother.
He enlisted in the French Army at sixteen, joined his uncle Marchand in Warsaw and was promoted to sergeant on 11 April 1812. He took part in the Russian Campaign, the taking of Moscow and the retreat back. He then fought in Napoleon's campaigns in Germany and France, notably at the battles of Lützen, Bautzen and Leipzig.
Middle life
He was Minister of War from January to October 1851, after which he was appointed Governor-General of Algerie (11 December 1851 to 31 August 1858). Although initially not in favour of the coup of December 1851, he finally rallied the Second French Empire. He was made a Count in 1852 (by reversion of the title of his uncle General Marchand), and Marshal of France in 1856, at the same time as Canrobert and Bosquet. He served again as Minister of War from 1859 to 1867.
In 1859, botanist Ernest Saint-Charles Cosson published Randonia, a monotypic genus of flowering plant from North Africa, belonging to the family Resedaceae and was named in Jacques Louis Randon's honour.
Later life
He received no command during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, because of his high age. He was nevertheless accused to have a part of responsibility in French defeat for having neglected to prepare for it during his second ministry and for having dissuaded Napoleon III of acting in favour of Austria at the time of the Battle of Sadova in 1866. Modern research has shown that the latter accusation is unfounded and that, quite contrarily, Randon had advocated an immediate action against Prussia.
Randon died on 16 January 1871 in Geneva, leaving one surviving daughter.
The Marshal's first wife, Clotilde Périer, was a sister of Casimir Périer, who had been President of the Council during the July Monarchy and the grandfather of Jean Casimir-Périer, President of the French Republic. Marshal Randon later remarried to Zénaïde Suin.
References
- Walford, Edward (1862). Men of the Time: A Biographical Dictionary of Eniment Living Characters (including Women). Routledge Warne. p. 640.
- Gooch, Brison Dowling (1954). French leadership in the Crimean War. University of Wisconsin--Madison. p. 57.
- Abi-Mershed, Osama (10 May 2010). Apostles of Modernity: Saint-Simonians and the Civilizing Mission in Algeria. Stanford University Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-8047-7472-7.
- "Randonia Coss. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- Grenoble, Académie delphinale (1988). Bulletin (in French). p. 37.
| Preceded byAuguste Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély | Minister of War 24 January 1851 – 26 October 1851 |
Succeeded byJacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud |
| Preceded byJean-Baptiste Philibert Vaillant | Minister of War 5 May 1859 – 20 January 1867 |
Succeeded byAdolphe Niel |
| Petit ministère of 1851 (24 January to 10 April 1851) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Under the Presidency of Louis Napoleon | ||
| Justice | Ernest de Royer |  |
| Foreign Affairs | Anatole, baron Brénier de Renaudière | |
| War | Jacques Louis Randon | |
| Navy and Colonies | Auguste-Nicolas Vaillant | |
| Interior | Claude-Marius Vaïsse | |
| Public Works | Pierre Magne | |
| Agriculture and Commerce | Eugène Schneider | |
| Education and Religious Affairs | Charles Giraud | |
| Finances | Charles Le Bègue de Germiny | |
| Cabinet of Léon Faucher (10 April - 26 October 1851) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Under the Presidency of Louis Napoleon | ||
| Interior | Léon Faucher | |
| Justice | Eugène Rouher | |
| Foreign Affairs | Jules Baroche | |
| Defense | Jacques Louis Randon | |
| Navy and Colonies | Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat | |
| Public Works | Pierre Magne | |
| Education and Religious Affairs | Marie Jean Pierre Pie Frédéric Dombidau de Crouseilhes | |
| Agriculture and Commerce | Louis Buffet | |
| Finance | Achille Fould | |
| Third cabinet of Napoleon III (2 December 1852 - 17 July 1869) | ||
|---|---|---|
| President of the Council of State | .svg) | |
| Justice | ||
| Foreign Affairs | ||
| Interior | ||
| Police | ||
| Finance | ||
| Defense | ||
| Marine, Colonies and Algeria | ||
| Education and Cults | ||
| Public works | ||
| Agriculture and Commerce | ||
| Beaux-Arts | ||
| Emperor's Household | ||
| Ministers of State | ||
| Ministers without portfolio | ||
| Preceded by Second cabinet of Louis Napoleon • Followed by Fourth cabinet of Napoleon III | ||
- 1795 births
- 1871 deaths
- Politicians from Grenoble
- French Roman Catholics
- Converts to Roman Catholicism from Protestantism
- Bonapartists
- Ministers of war of France
- People of the French Second Republic
- French senators of the Second Empire
- Governors general of Algeria
- Marshals of France
- French military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
- 19th-century Protestants
- 19th-century Roman Catholics
- Military personnel from Grenoble