Boigues & Cie
Blast furnaces at Commentry in 1856
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| Industry | Iron |
|---|---|
| Fate | Merged |
| Founded | 1820 |
| Founders | Jean Louis Boigues and Guillaume Boigues |
| Defunct | December 17, 1853 |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
The Société Boigues & Cie (originally Boigues et fils) was a French ironmaking company based in Fourchambault, Nièvre, founded by a Parisian metal trader. Boigues et fils built a foundry at Fourchambault, Nièvre in 1821–22, the first jn France to use the modern English technique of making iron using coal (coke) rather than charcoal. The company became a limited partnership, Société Boigues & Cie, in 1839 after the death of the co-founder Jean Louis Boigues. In 1853 it merged with other companies to form what would be later named the Société de Commentry, Fourchambault et Decazeville
Pierre Bouygues (1755–1820) had a business in Paris during the Directory and Empire that bought and sold old iron, lead, copper, pewter, bell metal and whole bells. He married Catherine Brousse (1764–1848). Their surviving children were Louis Boigues (1784–1838), Gabrielle Boigues (1788–1855) who married Claude Hochet and was mother of Prosper Hochet, Raymond Bouyges (born 1791), Bertrand (Meillard) Boiges (1794–1845), Guillaume Émile Boigues (1805–85) and Marie Boigues (c. 1808–1864) who married Count Hippolyte François Jaubert. At the start of the 19th century Bouygues was a trader in iron and copper in Paris, and around 1804 bought a property in Nivernais.
In 1817 the Maison Paillot Père et Fils and a M. Labbé asked Jean-Georges Dufaud Père, the director of their Grossouvre, Cher, foundry, to visit England to purchase iron. Dufaud was the son of an Ancien Régime ironmaster. Dufaud bought 15,000-20,000 tons of iron. While in Wales he discovered the technical specifications of an English-style forge he wanted to install in France. The forge at Trézy near Grossouvre was operational in 1817 using the new coal-based technology and its first products were sold at the start of 1818. In 1819 the leases on the Grossouvre site and its facilities were assigned to Boigues et Fils, Paris iron merchants, and Labbé. They decided to find a new site on the Loire to which it would be easier to transport coal, and decided on Fourchambault in Nièvre.
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