Henri Barbet
| Henri Barbet | |
|---|---|
Photograph by Jean-Gilles Berizzi
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| Deputy for Seine-Inférieure | |
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In office 5 July 1831 – 12 June 1842 |
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| Deputy for Seine-Inférieure | |
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In office 25 June 1844 – 6 July 1846 |
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| Preceded by | Jacques Laffitte |
| Deputy for Seine-Inférieure | |
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In office 31 May 1863 – 27 April 1869 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
23 June 1789 Déville-lès-Rouen |
| Died | 17 March 1875 (aged 85) Château de Valmont |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Industrialist, politician |
Henri Barbet (23 June 1789 – 17 March 1875), or Henry Barbet, was a French industrialist and politician. He owned and ran the family cotton spinning and weaving factory in Rouen, one of the most important in the region. For many years he was mayor of Rouen. He was responsible for building two bridges over the Seine, and for a policy of putting the indigent and insane to work in charitable workshops. He was a deputy for the Seine during the July Monarchy and again during the Second French Empire.
Henri Barbet was born on 23 June 1789 in Déville-lès-Rouen, Seine-Inférieure. He was from a Protestant family from the canton of Bolbec. His parents were Jacques Juste Barbet (1756–1813), merchant, and Marie Marguerite Gosgibus (1749–1834). He had an older brother, Juste Barbet de Jouy (1785–1866) and a younger brother Louis Auguste Barbet (1791–1872). In 1810 he married Marguerite Angran (1789–1858). They had two sons, Zoé Barbet (1810–72) and Henri Barbet (1816–1904), and two daughters, Aglaure Barbet (1814–89) and Thérèse Barbet (1824–99).
The Barbets owned a factory in Rouen that spun Indian cotton and wove "indienne" cloth. It was one of the most important in the Seine-Inférieure, a center of cloth manufacture, and was awarded silver medals in 1819, 1823 and 1827. After their oldest brother left Rouen, Henri and his brother Auguste managed the Rouen factories under the name of "Barbet Frères". Later the "Barbet Frères" partnership was dissolved and Henri became sole owner of the family factory, which he expanded considerably. He and his brother-in-law Prosper Angran formed the company "Henry Barbet & Cie". He became a great industrialist. He was a member of the Rouen Commercial Court and the Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Rouen. He entered the Rouen Chamber of Commerce in 1828, and was President until 1872. In 1831 and 1833 King Louis Philippe visited the Frères Barbet factories in Déville-lès-Rouen. Later Napoleon III would visit the factories.
In 1842 Barbet acquired the large estate of Valmont in the valley of Fécamp, including parts of the communes of Mont-Saint-Aignan, Canteleu, Maromme, Notre-Dame-de-Bondeville and Sologne. He converted to Catholicism, and he and his wife donated two stained glass windows to the Basilique Notre-Dame de Bonsecours. The Association pour la défense du Travail national was formed to oppose the lowering of tariffs. In 1845 it was joined by the committee of metallurgists. The council included Antoine Odier (President), Auguste Mimerel (Vice-President), Joseph Périer (Treasurer) and Louis-Martin Lebeuf (Secretary). Members included Henri Barbet, Léon Talabot and Eugène Schneider. Barbet became an administrator of the Chemins de Fer du Nord. In 1858 Barbet handed over management of his factory to his son.
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