Background
Monis was born in Châteauneuf-sur-Charente, Charente, France, on March 23, 1846. He was the grandson of a farmer and the son of a bailiff.
Portrait of Ernest Monis.
Profile photo of Ernest Monis.
Monis was born in Châteauneuf-sur-Charente, Charente, France, on March 23, 1846. He was the grandson of a farmer and the son of a bailiff.
Ernest Monis received a law degree in Poitiers.
Monis worked as a lawyer in the city of Cognac. In 1879 he founded a law firm in Bordeaux. He started his political career shortly after the election in 1871, when he became a member of the city council in Cognac.
In 1885 Ernest Monis was elected deputy of Gironde, holding this post until 1889. From 1891 till 1920 he was a senator of the same department. He was also Minister of Justice in Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau's Bloc des gauches's cabinet between 1899 and 1902. At the time when Monis occupied this position, women were allowed to law practice for the first time in the history of France.
Ernest Monis was elected Vice-President of the French Senate in 1910. Moreover, he formed and headed his own cabinet, which was in power for less than four months. Both Monis and his son were injured in the opening event of the 1911 Paris to Madrid air race. During 1913-1914 the politician occupied the post of Minister of the Navy in Gaston Doumergue's cabinet.
After leaving the Senate, Monis became completely impoverished and had to earn a living as a simple lawyer. In addition, he was elected a member of the City Council of Châteauneuf-sur-Charente in 1925. This led to Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré to leave his post in February 1927. Later Monis was granted a lifelong, annual honourary pension, which amounted 24,000 francs.
Initially, Ernest Monis was a Republican and then he joined the Radical Party.
Ernest Monis married a young girl from Bordeaux in 1879. Their marriage produced one son, Antoine Monis, who was a lawyer and a Republican politician.