Philippe Paul, comte de Ségur

Philippe Paul, comte de Ségur

Philippe-Paul, comte de Ségur (4 November 1780, Paris – 25 February 1873), was a French general and an historian.

Biogrpahy

Ségur was the son of Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur and was born in Paris 4 November 1780. He enlisted in the cavalry in 1800, and forthwith obtained a commission. He served with General Macdonald in the Grisons in 1800-1801, and published an account of the campaign in 1802. By the influence of Colonel Duroc (afterwards duc de Frioul) he was attached to the personal staff of Napoleon. He served through most of the important campaigns of the first empire, and was frequently employed on diplomatic missions. During the campaign in Poland in 1807 he was taken prisoner by the Russians, but was exchanged at the Peace of Tilsit.

His brilliant conduct in the cavalry charge at the battle of Somosierra on 30 November 1808 won him the grade of colonel, but his wounds compelled him to return to France. As general of brigade he took part in the Russian campaign of 1812, and in the campaigns of 1813 and 1814 he repeatedly distinguished himself, notably at Hanau (October 1813), and in a brilliant affair at Reims (March 1814). He remained in the army at the Restoration, but, having accepted a command from Napoleon during the Hundred Days, he was retired until 1818, and took no further active part in affairs until the July Revolution of 1830.

On the establishment of the July monarchy he received, in 1831, the grade of lieutenant-general and a peerage. In 1830 he was admitted to the Académie française, and he became grand cross of the Legion of Honour in 1847. After the Revolution of 1848 he lived in retirement, dying in Paris on 25 February 1873.

Bibliography

During his first retirement between 1818 and 1830 he wrote his Histoire de Napoléon et de la grande armée pendant l'année 1812 (Paris, 2 vols., 1824), which ran through numerous editions, and was translated into several languages. The unfavourable portrait of Napoleon given in this book provoked representations from General Gourgaud, and eventually a duel, in which Ségur was wounded.

His other works include: Histoire de Russie et de Pierre le Grand (1829); Histoire de Charles VIII. (2 vols., 1834–1842), in continuation of the history of France begun by his father; and the posthumous Histoire et mémoires (8 vols., 1873).

Marriages and issue

He married firstly on 25 September 1806 Antoinette Charlotte le Gendre de Luçay (16 April 1787 - 25 January 1813), daughter of Jean Baptiste Charles le Gendre de Luçay and Jeanne Charlotte Félicité Papillon d' Auterroche, and had three children:

• Paul Charles Louis, comte de Ségur (23 April 1809 - Paris, 24 February 1886), married on 25 May 1833 his stepsister Jeanne Josephine Amélie Greffulhe (1812 - Paris, 8 March 1902), and had two children:
  • Juliette de Ségur (Paris, 19 August 1835 - 27 September 1905), married Roger de La Rochefoucauld, duc d' Estissac (17 May 1826 - 6 November 1889), and had six children
  • Louis Philippe de Ségur (Paris, 22 December 1838 - 9 February 1924), married Marie-Thérèse Périer (Paris, 16 July 1844 - Paris, 10 November 1916), without issue
• Marie Charlotte Antoinette de Ségur (13 June 1810 - 8 January 1883), married on 27 April 1830 Guy Charles Oscar du Val, marquis de Bonneval (1798 - 1873), son of Charles Henri du Val, marquis de Bonneval and Aglaë Françoise de La Rivière Pré d' Auge (20 May 1772 - 9 April 1849), and had one son
• Napoléon Louis Octave de Ségur (Paris, 6 July 1811 - Saint-Cyr, 1832), unmarried and without issue

He married secondly in Paris in 1826 as her second husband Marie Françoise Louise Célestine de Vintimille de Luc (Paris, 26 June 1787 - Paris, 2 January 1862), married firstly in Paris on 23 April 1811 Jean, 1er comte Greffulhe (Amsterdam, 21 May 1774 - Paris, 23 February 1820), son of Louis Greffulhe (1 July 1741 - 7 April 1810) and first wife Judith Dumoulin (- 9 October 1782), by whom she had three children, a great-granddaughter of Louis XV, and had two daughters:

• Célestine de Ségur (8 January 1830 - 7 December 1918), married on 17 March 1851 Louis de La Forest d' Armaillé (1822 - 1882), son of Louis Germain René, comte de La Forest d' Armaillé and Charlotte de Macklot, and had one daughter
• Marie-Louise de Ségur (16 March 1832 - 8 October 1867), married Louis François Hector, comte de Galard de Saldebru (Gironde, Bordeaux, 28 July 1828 - Riom, 25 November 1904), and had two sons

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ségur, Philippe Paul". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 585. Endnote:
  • See Un Aide-de-camp de Napoléon (1800–1812), mémoires du général comte de Ségur, new edition by his grandson Louis de Ségur (3 vols., 1894–1895), of which an abridged English version was published in 1895.

External links

• Works at Project Gutenberg