Jules Paul Benjamin Delessert
Jules Paul Benjamin Delessert (February 14, 1773 – March 1, 1847) was a French banker and naturalist.
Born into a Protestant family in Lyon, he was the son of Étienne Delessert (1735–1816), founder of France's first fire insurance company. In his youth, he traveled extensively to Scotland and England during the French Revolution and returned hastily to enlist in the "Paris National Guard" in 1790, becoming an artillery officer in 1793. His father managed to convince him to abandon military life, and in 1795 he entered the banking business.
With remarkable energy, Delessert launched various commercial ventures, founding France's first cotton factory in Passy in 1801 and a sugar factory in 1802. Based on the studies of the German chemist Franz Karl Achard (1753–1821), he developed a method to extract sugar from beets, a method he named "Bonmatin." In recognition of his achievements, Napoleon appointed him "Knight of the Legion of Honor," and in 1812, he received the title "Baron of the Empire." He served for more than 25 years in the Chamber of Deputies (twice as vice president) and was a strong advocate for humanitarian reforms, notably the abolition of tours in hospitals, the abolition of the death penalty, and improvements to the prison system.
He became a regent of the Bank of France in 1802 and was a member—and in reality, a founder—of many philanthropic societies. He created soup kitchens, which at one point distributed up to four million meals daily.
Delessert was also a passionate botanist and conchologist. Using his fortune, he invested in herbariums (270,000 specimens) and built a botanical library containing 30,000 volumes. He published a catalog of these collections titled Musée botanique de M. Delessert (1845). He also published Des avantages de la caisse d'épargne et de prévoyance (1835), Mémoire sur un projet de bibliothèque royale (1836), Le Guide de bonheur (1839), and Recueil de coquilles décrites par Lamarck (1841–1842).
From 1820 to 1846, he published five volumes of Icones selectae plantarum containing 500 color plates, described by Augustin Pyrame de Candolle (1778–1841) in his Icones selectae plantarum.
Iconography
A French 75-cent postage stamp was issued in his honor in 1935, engraved by A. Delzers and designed by René Grégoire. Source: Charles Lemasson, "Pour vos placements, pensez à la Caisse d'épargne... de 1935," Timbres Magazine, November 2007, pp. 56–57.
René Grégoire, a sculptor, also created a bronze statue of Delessert for a square in Saumur, which was melted down during the occupation.
Honors
Eponyms
- (Arecaceae) Calamus delessertianus Becc.[1]
- (Asteraceae) Senecio delessertii Sch.Bip.[2]
- (Cactaceae) Melocactus delessertianus Lem. ex Labour.[3]
- (Campanulaceae) Lobelia delessertiana E.Wimm.[4]
- (Lauraceae) Cinnamomum delessertii Lukman.[5]
- (Onagraceae) Oenothera delessertiana Steud.[6]
- (Orchidaceae) Habenaria delessertiana Kraenzl.[7]
- (Pandanaceae) Eydouxia delessertii Gaudich.[8]
- (Rubiaceae) Cinchona delessertiana Standl. in J.F. Macbr.[9]
References
- ↑ Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. (Calcutta) 11(1): 276, 1908
- ↑ Schweinf. Beitr. Fl. Aethiop. 159
- ↑ Monogr. Cact. 19, 1853
- ↑ Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 19: 386, 1924
- ↑ Nomencl. Icon. Cannel. 5, 1889
- ↑ Nomencl. Bot. [Steudel], ed. 2, 2: 206
- ↑ Annuaire Conserv. Jard. Bot. Genève, 1897: 108
- ↑ Bot. Voy. Bonite, t. 17, ff. 7–8, 1844–1852
- ↑ Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 13, no. 364: 26, 1936