Jacques Lauriston

Jacques Alexandre Bernard Law Lauriston
Jacques Alexandre Bernard Law Lauriston
Born	1 February 1768 (1768-02) Pondicherry, India
Died	12 June 1828 (1828-06-13) (aged 60) Paris, France
Allegiance	France
Service/branch	Artillery, Staff
Years of service	1786-1828
Rank	Marshal of France
Battles/wars	French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars
Awards	Légion d'Honneur Order of Saint-Louis
Other work	Diplomat

Jacques Alexandre Bernard Law, marquis de Lauriston (1 February 1768 – 12 June 1828) was a French soldier and diplomat of Scottish descent, and a general officer in the French army during the Napoleonic Wars. He was born in Pondicherry in India, where his father, a nephew of the financier John Law, was the Governor-General. His mother was a member of the Carvallho family of Portuguese traders. Lauriston is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe.

Lauriston obtained his first commission about 1786, served with the artillery and on the general staff during the early campaigns of the Revolution, and became brigadier of artillery in 1795. Resigning in 1796, he was brought back into the service in 1800 as aide-de-camp to Napoleon, with whom, as a cadet, Lauriston had been on friendly terms. In the years immediately preceding the first empire, Lauriston was, successively, director of the La Fère artillery school and special envoy to Denmark before being selected to convey to England the ratification of the Peace of Amiens in 1802.

In 1805, having risen to the rank of general of division, he took part in the war against Austria. He occupied Venice and the Republic of Ragusa in 1806, was made governor-general of Venice in 1807, took part in the Erfurt negotiations of 1808, was ennobled as a count, and served with the emperor during the Peninsular War in Spain (1808–1809), where he commanded the division that besieged and won Pamplona. He fought under Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais at the Battle of Raab in the Italian campaign and the subsequent advance to Vienna.