Jean-Joseph de Laborde
Jean-Joseph de Laborde (24 January 1724 – 18 April 1794), 1st Marquis of Laborde, was a Spanish-born banker and merchant who emigrated to France. Born into a modest Béarn family, he joined his cousin’s import–export shipping company in Bayonne as a teenager and took over upon his cousin’s death.
He amassed great wealth through transatlantic trade—supplying French colonies, importing exotic fruits, rare woods and gold (which he minted), and participating in the slave trade. He owned sugar-producing plantations in Saint-Domingue (Haiti).
His fortune enabled him to purchase land and noble titles. Appointed Banker to the Court of King Louis XV, he funded much of France’s expenses in the Seven Years’ War and earned the confidence of Minister Choiseul. From 1759 to 1767 he served as General Tax Farmer. King Louis XVI later granted him a marquisate, though he seldom used it. After Choiseul’s fall he withdrew from many affairs.
When France faced financial crisis early in the Seven Years’ War, Laborde secured a secret 12 million–pound gold loan from the King of Spain. He also financed Rochambeau’s 6,000‐man expedition that aided George Washington at Yorktown (1781). A noted philanthropist, he donated 24,000 francs annually to the poor and 400,000 francs in 1788 for four Paris hospitals.
During the Reign of Terror, he was denounced—accused of fleeing capital via his son François, who shipped the Duke of Orléans’ gallery to England—and was condemned by Saint‐Just. He was guillotined in Place de la Concorde on 18 April 1794.
Family and legacy
His sons Edmond (1762–1786) and Ange Auguste (1766–1786) perished in La Pérouse’s Pacific expedition. Eldest son François Louis Joseph (1761–1802) served in the navy, joined the National Assembly, and later died in exile in London. His youngest, Alexandre (1773–1843), became a noted archaeologist and politician. His daughters Pauline (1767–1792) and Natalie (1774–1835) married into the highest French nobility.
Méréville estate
In 1784 Laborde acquired Château de Méréville and transformed its formal gardens into an English-style landscape park with architects Bélanger, painter-ruinist Hubert Robert, sculptor Pajou and cabinetmaker Leuleu. Over 700 workers labored ten years to create grottoes, cascades, a rostral column commemorating his lost sons, and the Temple of Filial Piety. François-René de Chateaubriand hailed it as “an oasis.”
References
- Bergerin, Flore. Les jardins de Jean-Joseph de Laborde: Le parc de Méréville au XVIIIe siècle. 1994.
- Delmas, Jean‐François. “Jean-Joseph de Laborde et le domaine de Méréville.” In _État et société en France aux XVIIe–XVIIIe siècles_. PUPS, 2000.
- Ormesson, François d’; Thomas, Jean-Pierre. _Jean-Joseph de Laborde: Banquier de Louis XV, mécène des Lumières_. Perrin, 2002.
- Dussau, A. J. “Jean-Joseph de Laborde … victime de la Terreur.” _Bulletin de la société des sciences, lettres et arts de Bayonne_, 1967.