View source for Antoine Marie Chamans, comte de Lavalette

{{Short description|French politician and general}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Antoine Marie Chamans,<br>comte de Lavalette
| image =Houdetot_-_Lavalette,_conseiller_d'Etat.jpg
| caption =Sketch by [[Frédéric-Christophe d'Houdetot]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1769|10|14}}
| birth_place = Paris, France
| residence = {{FRA}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1830|2|15|1769|10|14}}
| death_place = Paris, France
| office = [[Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones (France)|Minister of Posts]]
| term_start = 1804
| term_end = 1815
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| spouse = [[Émilie de Beauharnais]]
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'''Antoine Marie Chamans, [[Count|comte]] de Lavalette''' (14 October 1769{{spaced ndash}}15 February 1830) was a French politician and general.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Born in Paris the same year as [[Napoleon]] Bonaparte, he spent the [[French Revolution|Revolution]] in the [[French Revolutionary Army]], where he rose through the ranks to become an ''[[aide-de-camp]]'' to General [[Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers]].
In 1796, after the [[Battle of the Bridge of Arcole]], Baraguey d'Hilliers introduced his ''aide-de-camp'' to Napoleon, who was impressed enough to take him onto his personal staff and to entrust him with diplomatic missions. On 22 April 1798, Lavalette was married to [[Émilie de Beauharnais]] (1781–1855), niece of Napoléon's wife [[Joséphine de Beauharnais|Joséphine]] and who had saved him.
===Consulate and Empire===
Lavalette returned to France with Napoleon, taking part in the latter's [[18 Brumaire|18 Brumaire coup]] against the [[French Directory]] (1799). He occupied a number of offices in the [[French Consulate]] and [[First French Empire|First Empire]], most notably eleven years as [[Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones (France)|Minister of Posts]], during which he oversaw the covert monitoring of the mail of suspected [[House of Bourbon|Royalists]]. On 27 November 1808, he was created a [[Count]] of the Empire.
Having rejected the opportunity to go into exile with Napoleon, because he had a pregnant wife and a 13-year-old daughter, he was arrested after the beginning of the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]].  His wife had lost her pregnancy in October, and, on 21 November 1815, Lavalette was sentenced to execution by the ''[[Ultra-royalist|Ultras]]''.
===Flight and exile===
One night before his scheduled execution, he was visited by his wife and daughter Josephine (later the Baronne de Forget, who became the long-time mistress of [[Eugène Delacroix]]) and managed to change clothes and places with his wife, a ruse that was not discovered until the next morning. Having escaped prison, Lavalette made his way to [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] with the assistance of a small group of British soldiers, amongst whom were [[Robert Wilson (British Army officer, born 1777)|Robert Wilson]]<ref>{{cite news |title=The Late General Sir Robert Thomas Wilson KC |work=[[The Daily News (UK)]] |date=10 May 1849 |accessdate=13 December 2015 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000051/18490510/018/0005| via = [[British Newspaper Archive]]|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and [[John Hely-Hutchinson, 3rd Earl of Donoughmore|John Hely-Hutchinson]]. He then made his way to the [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]], and finally to [[Bavaria]], where he had the support of [[Eugène de Beauharnais]] of his wife's family and his father-in-law [[Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria]]. Madame Lavalette remained in prison until 23 January 1816.
Lavalette was able to return to France and died in 1830, most likely of lung cancer. He was buried at [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]].
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{commons category|Antoine Marie Chamans de Lavalette}}
* {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.comte-lavalette.com/biographie-lavalette.php Biography]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavalette, Antoine Marie Chamans, Comte de}}
[[Category:Counts of the First French Empire]]
[[Category:French diplomats]]
[[Category:French generals]]
[[Category:Politicians from Paris]]
[[Category:1769 births]]
[[Category:1830 deaths]]
[[Category:Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]