Antoine-Jean-Marie Thévenard

For other people named Thévenard, see Thévenard.

Antoine Jean Marie Thévenard (7 December 1733, Saint-Malo - 9 February 1815, Paris) was a French politician and vice admiral. He served in the French ruling regimes of Louis XVI, those of the Revolution, Napoleon I and Louis XVIII, and is buried at the Panthéon de Paris. His son Antoine-René Thévenard, capitaine de vaisseau, was killed at the Battle of Aboukir whilst commanding the Aquilon.

Life

Aged 12 he embarked on a Compagnie des Indes ship and fought in several battles. He became a lieutenant in 1754 and destroyed the English establishments on the Newfoundland coast and took part in the pirate François Thurot's expedition to Ireland (1759). Returning to Saint-Malo, he helped in the planning of frigate construction, before being put in charge of overseeing constructions already in progress, and thus built the first gunboats in the French Navy. He was promoted Capitaine de vaisseau in the Compagnie des Indes in 1764 before entering the French Navy, becoming Capitaine de frégate in 1770, then Capitaine de vaisseau in 1773. He then commanded the Lorient fleet from 1779, and became Chef d'escadre in 1784.

He became ministre de la Marine under Louis XVI in May 1791, but resigned in September 1791. Promoted Vice-amiral in 1792, he commanded the fleets at Brest, then Toulon, then Rochefort, and became Préfet maritime of Lorient then Toulon in 1801, where he remained until 1815. On 5 February 1810 he was made a comte d'Empire and member of the Sénat conservateur. He then became a member of the Chambre des Pairs in 1814.

Memberships

• 1771 : Member of the Académie de Marine
• 1787 : Member of the Académie des Sciences

Distinctions

• 1773 : Knight of the Ordre de Saint-Louis. He was promoted to Commander on 27 December 1814, under the Bourbon Restoration.
• 1804 : Grand officer of the Légion d'honneur

Works

• Mémoires relatifs à la marine.