Jacques Laffitte
| Jacques Laffitte | |
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Illustration of Laffitte (ca. 1830)
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Member of the Chamber of Deputies for Seine-Inférieure |
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In office 2 March 1839 – 26 May 1844 |
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| Preceded by | Jean-François Izarn |
| Succeeded by | Henry Barbet |
| Constituency | Rouen |
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In office 21 June 1834 – 8 February 1838 |
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| Preceded by | Jacques Asselin de Villequier |
| Succeeded by | Jean-François Izarn |
| Constituency | Rouen |
| 8th Prime Minister of France | |
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In office 2 November 1830 – 13 March 1831 |
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| Monarch | Louis Philippe I |
| Preceded by | Jules de Polignac |
| Succeeded by | Casimir Perier |
| President of the Chamber of Deputies | |
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In office 21 August 1830 – 11 November 1830 |
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| Monarch | Louis Philippe I |
| Preceded by | Casimir Perier |
| Succeeded by | Casimir Perier |
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Member of the Chamber of Deputies for Basses-Pyrénées |
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In office 29 March 1827 – 21 June 1834 |
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| Preceded by | Jean de Nays Candau |
| Succeeded by | Jean Isidore Harispe |
| Constituency | Bayonne |
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Member of the Chamber of Deputies for Seine |
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In office 8 February 1838 – 2 March 1839 |
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| Preceded by | Antoine Odier |
| Succeeded by | Emmanuel de Las Cases |
| Constituency | Paris (6th arrondissement) |
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In office 8 May 1815 – 25 February 1824 |
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| Preceded by | Gaspard Louis Caze de La Bove |
| Succeeded by | Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure |
| Constituency | Paris (2nd arrondissement) |
| Governor of the Bank of France | |
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In office 6 April 1814 – 1820 |
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| Preceded by | François Jaubert |
| Succeeded by | Martin-Michel-Charles Gaudin |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
October 24, 1767 Bayonne, Lower Navarre, France |
| Died | May 26, 1844 (aged 76) Paris, France |
| Political party |
Doctrinaires (1815–1830) Movement Party (1830–1844) |
| Spouse(s) | Marine-Françoise Laeut (m. 1801; d. 1844) |
| Children | Albine Étiennette Marguerite |
| Profession | Businessman, banker |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Jacques Laffitte (24 October 1767 – 26 May 1844) was a leading French banker, governor of the Bank of France (1814-1820) and liberal member of the Chamber of Deputies during the Bourbon Restoration and July Monarchy. He was an important figure in the development of new banking techniques during the early stages of industrialization in France. In politics, he played a decisive role during the Revolution of 1830 that brought Louis-Philippe, the duc d'Orléans, to the throne, replacing the unpopular Bourbon king Charles X. Laffitte was named president of the new Citizen King's Council of Ministers and Minister of Finances (2 November 1830 - 13 March 1831). After a brief ministry of 131 days, his "Party of Movement" gave way before the "Party of Order" led by the banker Casimir-Pierre Perier. Laffitte left office discredited politically and financially ruined. He rebounded financially in 1836 with his creation of the Caisse Générale du Commerce et de l'Industrie, a forerunner of French investment banks of the second half of the 19th century such as the Crédit Mobilier (1852). The Caisse Générale did not survive the financial crisis caused by the Revolution of 1848.
Laffitte was born in 1767 at Bayonne in southwestern France, one of four sons and six daughters of Pierre Laffitte, a master carpenter. He apprenticed with his father for a time, but also found clerking positions with a local notary and merchant. In 1788, at 21 years of age and on the eve of the Revolution in France, he arrived in Paris at the offices of the prominent Swiss banker Jean-Frédéric Perregaux (1744-1808), rue du Sentier, where he was hired as a bookkeeper. It was a starting position that offered Laffitte valuable learning experiences and great potential for advancement. Perregaux was a banker with a wealthy clientele, important foreign connections and friends in high places. He was a shrewd, cosmopolitan businessman who prospered from the Revolution. He helped to bankroll Napoleon's rise to power and became a founder of the Bank of France in 1800 and president of its directing Council of Regents. Laffitte became Perregaux's right-hand man in the private bank and was promoted to a partnership in 1806. In 1807, because of Perregaux's declining health, he was named managing director and effective head of the bank. The bank's name was changed to "Perregaux, Laffitte and Company". Perregaux's son, Alphonse (1785-1841), and his sister, were sleeping partners (commanditaires). Virginie Monnier observes: "For the first time in the history of banks in France, a clerk took over his patron's position directly." When Perregaux died in 1808, Laffitte also took over his place as one of the fifteen regents of the Bank of France. He became president of the Chamber of Commerce of Paris (1810-1811) and was appointed as a judge of the Tribunal of Commerce of the Seine (1813). After the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, he was named provisional governor of the Bank of France by the incoming Bourbon king Louis XVIII. Napoleon, when on his way into final exile after Waterloo (June 15, 1815), reportedly deposited 6 million francs in Laffitte's bank. When Napoleon's estate was being contested later in 1826, Laffitte calculated his bank's obligation at 3,856,121 francs, interest included.
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