Marguerite-Élie Guadet b. 20 Jul 1755, Saint-Émilion, Gironde [1] d. 19 Jun 1794, Bordeaux [2] Title: Président de la Convention nationale (President of the National Convention) Term: 18 Oct 1792 - 1 Nov 1792 Chronology: 18 Oct 1792, elected, session of the Convention, Salle du Manège, Paris [3] 19 Oct 1792, assumed the chair, session of the Convention, Salle du Manège, Paris [3] 1 Nov 1792, ceased to exercise the functions of office upon the election of a successor [4] Baptised: Élie (original spelling: Élies) Guadet (20 Jul 1755, Saint-Émilion, Paroisse Saint-Pierre) Other offices: Président de l'Assemblée nationale (President of the National Assembly) (22 Jan 1792 - 5 Feb 1792) [see details] Biography: Born in the family of a Bordeaux magistrate; brought up at home until the age of 15; the widow of a rich merchant in Bordeaux paid for his education at the collège of Guyenne; he eventually inherited 20,000 livres from that same widow, and went on to study law in Bordeaux; left for Paris in the mid-1770's, where he worked as personal secretary to Élie de Beaumont, lawyer and friend of Voltaire; returned to Bordeaux (1781) to take up a position as avocat au Parlement; was among the founders of the Jacobin club in Bordeaux; was elected (1790) a member of the administration of the département of Gironde; elected (28 Mar 1791) president of the Criminal Tribunal of the Gironde; elected (1 Sep 1791) as a representative of the Gironde to the Assemblée nationale (National Assembly) (1791-1792); was a member of the Society of the Friends of Blacks, and criticised French plantation owners in Saint-Domingue; joined the Jacobin Club in Paris; was a prominent leader of the Girondin faction and an acerbic speaker, who had several barbed exchanges with Maximilien Robespierre; served as Vice President (10 Jan 1792 - 22 Jan 1792) and President (22 Jan 1792 - 5 Feb 1792) of the National Assembly; was instrumental in forcing King Louis XVI to appoint the first Girondin ministry (March 1792); was among the first deputies to condemn Jean-Paul Marat (1792); appointed a member of the Commission extraordinaire des Douze (Extraordinary Commission of Twelve) (18 Jun 1792 - 21 Sep 1792); remained a royalist and supporter of constitutional monarchy; was elected to the Convention nationale (National Convention) (1792-1794) as a deputy for Gironde; served as President of the National Convention (18 Oct 1792 - 1 Nov 1792); voted for an appeal to the people and for the death sentence in the trial of Louis XVI; as a result of the Jacobin coup, he was put on the list of 29 Girondin deputies subject to arrest (2 Jun 1792); fled from Paris to Caen, and then on to Brittany; was eventually captured in his father's house at Saint-Émilion, Gironde (17 Jun 1794); executed at Bordeaux (19 Jun 1794). Biographical sources: Dictionnaire des parlementaires français 1789-1889, 3:267-268; Dictionnaire des Conventionnels, 312-314; "La proscription des Girondins (1793-1795)", by Claude Perroud (Paris: F. Alcan, 1917); "Les Girondins: leur vie privée, leur vie publique, leur proscription et leur mort", by Joseph Guadet (Paris: Didier et Cie, 1861). Elections: Candidate Vote (18 Oct 1792) 1st ballot 2nd ballot Marguerite-Élie Guadet 218 336 Georges-Jacques Danton 207 - absolute majority 234 210 voters 466 418 Source of electoral results: Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 52:568. [1] Baptismal record was published in "Charlotte de Corday et les Girondins: pièces classées et annotées", ed. by Charles Vatel (Paris: Henri Plon, 1864-1872), 2:189; original record is preserved in the Archives of the Gironde département, 1 Mi EC 88-R4 (online 57/206). The only given name registered at baptism was Élie (spelled Élies). His marriage contract dated 15 Dec 1781 also refers to him as Elie Guadet. [2] "La proscription des Girondins", op. cit., 197. [3] Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 52:568. [4] Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 53:108. Last updated on: 14 May 2016 00:00:00
