Biography of Defermon, Jacques - Archontology
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Defermon, Jacques

Jacques Defermon, dit Defermon des Chapelières

b. 15 Nov 1752, Basse-Chapelière, near Maumusson, Loire-Atlantique [1]
d. 20 Jul 1831, Paris

Title: Président de la Convention nationale (President of the National Convention)
Term: 13 Dec 1792 - 27 Dec 1792
Chronology: 13 Dec 1792, elected, session of the Convention, Salle du Manège, Paris [2]
14 Dec 1792, assumed the chair, session of the Convention, Salle du Manège, Paris [3]
27 Dec 1792, ceased to exercise the functions of office upon the election of a successor [4]
Names/titles: In some sources his baptismal names are given as Jacques, Joseph (most probably in error); surname also spelled as: (de) Fermon, (de) Fermond; comte Defermon, comte de l'Empire (count Defermon, count of the Empire) [from 23 Mar 1808]
Other offices: Président de l'Assemblée nationale (President of the National Assembly) (19 Jul 1791 - 30 Jul 1791) [see details]
Biography:
Educated at the Collège de Châtillon, Châteaubriant; studied law at Rennes; became a lawyer in the Parlement of Rennes (from 1782); was elected (18 Apr 1789) as a representative of the Third Estate of Rennes to the États-Généraux (Estates-General), deputy of the Assemblée nationale (National Assembly) (1789-1791); elected President of the National Assembly (19 Jul 1791 - 30 Jul 1791); served as president of the Criminal Tribunal of Rennes (1791-1792); was elected to the Convention nationale (National Convention) (1792-1793, 1794-1795) as a deputy for the département of Ille-et-Vilaine; served as President of the National Convention (13 Dec 1792 - 27 Dec 1792); supported the Girondins and signed a petition (2 Jun 1793) against their exclusion from the Convention; was declared traître à la patrie and went into hiding to escape arrest decreed by the Convention (3 Oct 1793); returned to exercising his duties as deputy in December 1794; was elected a member of the Comité de salut public (Committee of Public Safety) (4 May 1795 - 1 Sep 1795); elected (14 Oct 1795) to the Corps législatif by the département of Ille-et-Vilaine; selected to sit in the Conseil des Cinq-Cents (Council of Five Hundred) (1795-1797); elected President of the Council of Five Hundred (21 May 1796 - 19 Jun 1796); appointed a commissioner of the National Treasury (1797-1799); supported the 18 Brumaire coup (9 Nov 1799 - 10 Nov 1799); was appointed a member of the Tribunat (25 Dec 1799) and counselor of state; chaired the department of finance (1799-1814); was appointed intendant général (1805), minister of state (1808); during the Cent Jours (Hundred Days), was elected (12 May 1815) a deputy of the Chambre des représentants (Chamber of Representatives) from Ille-et-Vilaine; banished as a regicide (1816); lived in Brussels (1816-1822); returned to France in 1822.
Biographical sources: Dictionnaire des Conventionnels, 184-186; Dictionnaire des parlementaires français 1789-1889, 2:290-291; Dictionnaire des Constituants, 1:265-267.
Elections:

Candidate Votes (13 Dec 1792)
Jacques-Joseph Defermon, dit Defermon des Chapelières 258
Jean-Paul Marat 1
voters 374
Source of electoral results: Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 55:43-44.

[1] Dictionnaire des Conventionnels, 184: "né à la Basse-Chapelière, près Maumusson (Loire-Inférieure)"; baptismal record was published in "Recherches et notices sur les députés de la Bretagne aux États généraux et à l'Assemblée nationale constitituante de 1789", ed. by René Pocard du Cosquer de Kerviler (V. Forest & E. Grimaud, 1885), 204: "Voici la copie textuelle de son acte de baptême: « Le seizième jour de novembre 1752, Jacques, né d'hier à la Basse-Chapelière, ..."
[2] Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 55:43-44; Procès-verbal de la Convention nationale, 4:218.
[3] Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 55:45.
[4] Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 55:727; Procès-verbal de la Convention nationale, 4:426.