Ernest Duquesnoy

Background

The son of a farmer, he served time as a private in the dragoons then (at the start of the French Revolution) moved to farming and raising his large family.

Career

He was elected a député for the Pas-de-Calais to the Assemblée législative, then to the National Convention. He took on many missions to the Nord and was absent during the struggle between the Montagnards and Girondists. He was very severe with incompetent generals, notably dismissing Jean Nestor de Chancel and Jean-Baptiste Davaine who were both executed.

Recalled to Paris on 10 August 1794, he succeeded in excluding Jean-Lambert Tallien from the club des Jacobins and having Armand-Joseph Guffroy beaten before Carnot.

Guffroy complained to the Committee of General Security and, accused of being one of the leaders of the insurrection of 1 prairial an III (20 May 1795), Duquesnoy was condemned to death despite his friends" depositions. I die worthy of you and of my country for whose safety and for whose revolutionary principles I have never ceased to fight".

Views

He warmly defended Jean-Baptiste Jourdan before the Committee of Public Safety and probably saved him from the guillotine.

Connections

enemy:

Louis XVI

colleague:

Nicolas Hentz