Georges Schwob d'Héricourt
| Georges Schwob d'Héricourt | |
|---|---|
| Born |
21 January 1864 Lure, Haute-Saône, France |
| Died |
30 August 1942 (aged 78) Aix-en-Provence, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | French colonial expositions. |
Georges Schwob d'Héricourt (21 January 1864 – 30 August 1942) was a French businessman who was involved in a wide range of enterprises in France and her colonies. He was also responsible for exhibits of the French colonies in various international expositions.
Georges Schwob d'Héricourt was born in Lure, Haute-Saône on 21 January 1864, son of Eugène Georges Schwob d'Héricourt (1830–1912) and Clarisse Anna Cahen (1836–1919). His family was Jewish, had been living in Alsace since 1681, and had established a major textile enterprise. His uncle Édouard Schwob (1844–1929) had added "d'Héricourt" to the family name after the town of Héricourt of which he was mayor from 1879 until his death. Georges Schwob d'Héricourt graduated from the École des hautes études commerciales (HEC). He married Emma Gradis, from an old Jewish family from Bordeaux who owned the Société française pour le commerce avec les colonies et l’étranger, a trading enterprise. His wife was the younger sister of Raoul Gradis and aunt of Gaston Gradis.
Georges Schwob d'Héricourt started his career in small mining businesses. Charbonnages de Nikitowka was absorbed in 1905 by Société des sels gemmes et houillères de la Russie méridionale. Étains de Portugal was absorbed in 1907 by Société des Étains et wolfram de Portugal. He was also involved in tramway companies and in the Société d’électricité et d’automobile Mors. The automobile business of this company was taken over in 1907 by André Citroën, and Schwob became involved in the Citroen businesses. By 1908 he was president of several mutual aid societies and treasurer of the Union des tramways de France. He was one of the heads of the Maison Gradis, which handled two thirds of the imports from Martinique, and sat on the board of several industrial companies.
From 1900 Schwob was involved in organizing colonial exhibitions. He was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour for the 1903 exhibition in Hanoi. He helped organize the French colonial exhibition at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, was in charge of the section of Commerce and Colonization at the 1905 Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Liège and of the Trade and Industry section of the 1907 National Colonial Exhibition. He was promoted to Officer of the Legion of Honour in 1908. At this time he was a member of the supreme council of the colonies and of the administrative council of the colonial office, vice-president of the national committee of colonial exhibitions, foreign trade adviser to France. He was in charge of the French colonies section at the Franco-British Exhibition (1908), and was appointed commissioner of the French colonies section of the International Exhibition of Brussels in 1910.
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