Narcisse-Achille de Salvandy

He was born at Condom (Gers) of a poor family of Irish extraction. He joined the army in 1813, and in the following year joined the household troops of King Louis XVIII of France. His patriotic pamphlet on La Coalition et la France (1816) attracted the attention of Elie, Comte Decazes, who employed him to disseminate his views in the press, and he waged war against the Villèle ministry of 1822-1828.

Under the July monarchy he sat almost continuously in the Chamber of Deputies from 1830 till 1848, giving his support to the Conservative party. Minister of education in Mathieu Mole's cabinet of 1837-1839, and again in 1845, he superintended the reconstitution of the Council of Education, the foundation of the French School at Athens and the restoration of the École des Chartes.

For short periods in 1841 and 1843 he was ambassador at Madrid and at Turin, and became a member of the Académie Française in 1835. Under the First French Empire he took no part in public affairs, and died at Graveron (Eure).

Reference