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Jacques Necker 1732-1804
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Image Above
Jacques Necker
Detail from the
painting by J.S. Duplessis
© Réunion des
musées nationaux |
The son of a banker,
Jacques Necker was born in Geneva.
In 1764, Necker married
Suzanne Curchod.
In 1766, their daughter
Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker,
who would become the Baroness de Staël-Holstein, was born.
On June 29, 1777, Necker was
made
 Louis XVI's
directeur général des finances, or finance minister.
Normally, he would have been
made contrôleur général des finances, but Necker was
a foreign and a Protestant at that.
For a complete
list of all comptrollers-general
see
French finance ministers
under the ancien regime
In January 1781, and with the
King's permission, Necker
published his
Compte rendu au Roi
(Report to the King).
In it, Necker camouflaged a deficit of
46,000,000 livres as a surplus of 10,000,000
livres, which enabled his ministry to receive new loans.
The Queen,
Marie-Antoinette,
couldn't stand the man. But she was not Necker's only
critic. Necker had to resign on May 19,
1781. He retired to his humble château at Saint-Ouen,
just outside Paris.
In 1783, the new finance
minister was
de Calonne, with whom
Necker had some disagreements.
Necker was recalled to his desk on August 25, 1788, just in time to double
the
Third Estate.
When the King fired Necker on
July 11, 1789, the French took it personally and geared up
for the
French Revolution.
On July 14, 1789, the
Bastille fell.
On July 26, 1789, Necker had his
job back.
Check this event in the
timeline of the French Revolution.
Necker resigned for good on
September 18, 1790.
See also
Taxation in
Pre-Revolutionary France.
More History
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