Léon Bourgeois

Towards the end of his life Léon Victor Auguste Bourgeois suffered from various ailments and began to lose his vision. He died from uremic poisoning on September 29, 1925 at Château d'Oger, near Epérnay. He was then seventy four years old.

Léon Victor Auguste Bourgeois was born on May 21, 1851 in Paris. His father was a clock maker of Jurassian and Burgundian descent. He spent most of his childhood in an eighteenth century townhouse on the Rue Palatine.

He was initially enrolled at Massin Institute in Paris. Later he went to Lycée Charlemagne and finished his secondary education from there. As a student, he was hard-working, reflective and intelligent. He also displayed a unique leadership capacity as well as a distinct flair of oratory.

After he finished his secondary education, he joined military service sometime in 1870-71 and fought in the artillery regiment in the Franco-Prussian War. After the war, he enrolled at the Law School of the University of Paris.

During this period, Léon showed interest into a diverse range of things. He not only studied law, but was also a student of Sanskrit and Hinduism. Besides, he became interested in fine arts and gathered some expertise in music, sculpture and drawing.

Although he started his career as a lawyer, Léon Bourgeois changed his vocation after few years and joined civil service. In 1876, he became a deputy in the claims division of Public Works Department.

Next in quick succession, he became Secretary-General of the Prefecture of the Marne in 1877, Under-Prefect of Reims in 1880, Prefect of the Tarn in 1882, Secretary-General of the Seine in 1883 and Prefect of the Haute-Garonne in 1885,

In 1886, he was brought back to Paris as the Director of Personnel in the Ministry of the Interior.

In November, 1887, Bourgeois was appointed prefect of police in Seine, which encompassed Paris and its immediate suburbs. In this position, he helped to prevent a military coup by supporters of George Boulanger, who wanted to launch a revanchist war against Germany

Léon Bourgeois joined politics after President Jules Grevy resigned on December 2, 1887. He entered the Chamber of Deputies from the department of Mame in February 1888. He was only thirty six years old then. His opponent was supported by formidable George Boulanger.

In the Chamber of Deputies, he joined the Radical Left and became came out as an effective orator. Sometime now he also attended the congress of Radical-Socialist Party. When Charles Thomas Floquet formed government on April 3, 1888, Bourgeois was appointed as Undersecretary for Home Affairs.

However, when Floquet resigned on February 22, 1889 after admitting his involvement in the Panama Scandal Bourgeois too resigned with him. He next got himself elected from Reims and on March 1, 1890, he was inducted in the cabinet of Prime Minister Pierre Tirard as the Minister of the Interior.

However, as Tirard resigned on March 17, 1890 on the issue of Franco-Turkish commercial treaty this post too was short-lived. Later in the same year, he was inducted in the cabinet of Prime Minster Charles de Freycinet as the Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts.

As education minister, he undertook extensive reforms, both in primary and secondary education system. In addition to this, he reconstituted the universities by regrouping the faculties and extended the scope of post graduation education.