Aimé, duc de Clermont-Tonnerre

Aimé-Marie-Gaspard, comte de Clermont-Tonnerre (November 27, 1779, Paris - January 8, 1865, Glisolles) was a French general and statesman.

Son of Gaspard-Paulin, vicomte de Clermont-Tonnerre and Anne-Marie-Louise Bernard de Boulainvilliers, and grandson of the Marquis de Boulainvilliers, Clermont-Tonnerre lived during the revolution with his grandfather.

He entered the École Polytechnique, before entering the army. He participated in the campaigns in Italy, Germany and Spain and was made adjudant of the King of Naples in 1808, in who's service he stayed afterwards. He married Madame de Cauvoisin and in 1814 returned to the French army as a colonel, was Maréchal de Camp and after the second return of the king Pair of France and commander of the cavalry of the guard.

Clermont-Tonnerre sided with the moderate conservative party and was named Minister of the Navy and the Colonies in 1820 by Villèle. ["The Bourbon Restoration" - Page 180 by Guillaume de Bertier de Sauvigny ] In 1823, he became Minister of War and assiduously reorganized the army.

Clermont-Tonnerre sent Hyacinthe de Bougainville around the world from 1824 to 1826 onboard "Thétis" and "Espérance". ["The French Explorers and the Aboriginal Australians 1772-1839" By Colin L. Dyer p.12 [http://books.google.com/books?id=gnu_RmVvypMC&pg=PA11&dq=%22Hyacinthe+de+Bougainville%22&sig=ACfU3U3J-ZBbxXm2xcWkocbBH7ng9KRKXw#PPA12,M1] ]

In 1827, he organized the Algerian expedition, executed in 1830.

After the revolution, he refused to swear allegiance to the new government of Louis-Philippe and retired into private life. In 1852, he lobbied for the first rail line between Paris and Cherbourg to pass through the department of Eure. He died on his estate in Glissolles.

References

*Rousset, "Le marquis de Clermont-Tonnerre" (Par. 1885)