Jacques Necker

Jacques Necker (September 30, 1732 – April 9, 1804) was a French statesman and finance minister of Louis XVI.

Early life

Necker was born in Geneva, Switzerland. His father was a native of Küstrin in Pomerania (now Kostrzyn, Poland), and had, after the publication of some works on international law, been elected as professor of public law at Geneva, of which he became a citizen, Jacques Necker was sent to Paris in 1747 to become a clerk in the bank of a friend of his father. He soon afterwards established, with another Genevese, the famous bank of Thellusson & Necker. Thellusson superintended the bank in London (his grandson was made a peer as Lord Rendlesham), while Necker was managing partner in Paris. Both partners became very rich by loans to the treasury and speculations in grain.

Related Topics:
Geneva - Switzerland - Küstrin - Pomerania - Kostrzyn - Poland - Paris - 1747 - Thellusson & Necker - Thellusson - London - Lord Rendlesham - Grain

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In 1763 Necker fell in love with Madame de Verménou, the widow of a French officer. But while on a visit to Geneva, Madame de Verménou met Suzanne Curchod, the daughter of a pastor near Lausanne, to whom Edward Gibbon had been engaged, and brought her back as her companion to Paris in 1764. There Necker, transferring his love from the widow to the poor Swiss girl, married Suzanne before the end of the year. On April 22, 1766 they had a daughter, Anne Louise Germaine Necker, who became a renowned author under the name of Madame de Staël.

Related Topics:
1763 - Madame de Verménou - Suzanne Curchod - Lausanne - Edward Gibbon - 1764 - April 22 - 1766 - Anne Louise Germaine Necker

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Madame Necker encouraged her husband to try to find himself a public position. He accordingly became a syndic or director of the French East India Company, and, after showing his financial ability in its management, defended it in an able memoir against the attacks of André Morellet in 1769.

Related Topics:
French East India Company - André Morellet - 1769

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Meanwhile he had made loans to the French government, and was appointed resident at Paris by the republic of Geneva. Madame Necker entertained the leaders of the political, financial and literary worlds of Paris, and her Fridays became as greatly frequented as the Mondays of Madame Geoffrin, or the Tuesdays of Madame Helvétius. In 1773 Necker won the prize of the Académie française for a eulogy on Colbert, and in 1775 published his Essai sur la législation et le commerce des grains, in which he attacked the free-trade policy of Turgot. His wife now believed he could get into office as a great financier, and made him give up his share in the bank, which he transferred to his brother Louis.

Related Topics:
Madame Geoffrin - Helvétius - 1773 - Académie française - Eulogy - Colbert - 1775 - Free-trade - Turgot

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