Charles de Wendel
| Charles de Wendel | |
|---|---|
| Representative for Moselle | |
|
In office 13 May 1849 – 29 February 1852 |
|
| Deputy for Moselle | |
|
In office 29 February 1852 – 19 February 1867 |
|
| Succeeded by | Stephen Liégeard |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Alexie Charles de Wendel d'Hayange 13 December 1809 Metz, Moselle, France |
| Died | 15 April 1870 (aged 60) Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Steel maker, Deputy |
Charles de Wendel (13 December 1809 – 15 April 1870) was a French steel manufacturer in Lorraine and a deputy in the French legislative assembly.
The de Wendel family can be traced back to Jean Wendel of Bruges, who married Marie de Wanderve around 1600. His descendants in the male line mostly pursued military careers. Jean's descendent Jean-Martin Wendel (1665–1737) purchased the factories of Le Comte in Hayange, Lorraine, in 1704. This was the foundation of the family's industrial operations. The purchase of the mastership of a forge carried with it a noble title, and Martin Wendel became Martin de Wendel, seigneur d'Hayange. He was followed by eight generations of steelmakers. The Wendels lost their forge and foundry at Hayange during the French Revolution. The banker Florentin Seillière (1744–1825) helped them buy it back in 1804, and in 1811 helped them buy the nearby Moyeuvre forge.
Alexis Charles de Wendel was born on 13 December 1809 in Metz, Moselle. He was the second son of François de Wendel (1778–1825) and Françoise Joséphine de Fischer de Dicourt (1784–1872). His father was deputy from 1815–16 and from 1818–25, and master of the Hayange foundry. After his father died in 1825, his mother took over management of the family business. Charles' older brother, Victor-François, was not interested in running the family business and moved from Hayange to estates on the Seille river. Charles was sixteen when his father died. He entered the École Polytechnique in 1828, and after graduating went to England to study mining and metallurgy. Charles returned to France in 1834. On 29 May 1843 Charles de Wendel married Jeanne Marie de Pechpeyrou-Comminges de Guitaut.
Charles de Wendel had to share control of the enterprise with his mother and his brother-in-law, Baron Théodore de Gargan, which he resented, and blamed on the insistence of the Napoleonic Code on the equal rights of heirs. In the 1830s the family matriarch, Madame Joséphine de Wendel, drew up contracts through which the children and grandchildren of François de Wendel would nominally receive a cash payment as their share of the inheritance, but the money would be invested in the business, paying a low rate of return. Théodore de Gargan died in 1851 and Charles became the sole manager, but still shared ownership with his siblings and their children. On 24 April 1857 Madame de Wendel, Charles de Wendel and Théodore de Gargan junior signed a deed that established the commandite of Le Fils de Francois de Wendel et Cie. Madame de Wendel put up almost all the capital of the partnership and took 80% of the profits, while Charles took 12% and Gargan took 8%.
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