Albert Gautier Vignal

This article is about the fencer. For the politician, see Albert Gauthier de Clagny.

Comte
Albert Gautier Vignal
Born
Albert-Joseph Gautier

(1854-05-26)26 May 1854
Nice, France
Died18 October 1939(1939-10-18) (aged 85)
Lausanne, Switzerland
NationalityFrench, Monegasque
Other namesAlbert Gauthier
Spouse(s)
Marie Boutau
​
​
(m. 1883; died 1910)​

Edith Emma Schiff
​
​
(m. 1911; died 1939)​

Albert-Joseph Gautier Vignal (26 May 1854 – 18 October 1939) was a French-Monegasque nobleman and tycoon who sponsored various sports in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly fencing.

Early life

Gautier was from a French noble family that settled in Monaco in the early 1820s, eventually becoming leading figures in the business. Born on 26 May 1854 in Nice, he was a son of Hélène Sicard (b. 1831) and Paul Gautier (1819–1872), who served as president of the Chamber of Commerce in Nice.[1]

Career

A close friend of the Baron de Coubertin, Gautier founded the Monegasque Olympic Committee in 1907 and, from 1908 until his death, represented Monaco on the International Olympic Committee.[2] He was a leading figure in developing fencing as a competitive sport, and Monaco as a sporting destination.[1] In 1933 he became an honorary member of the International Fencing Federation (FIE).[3]

Outside of sport, he was president of various banks as well as the Nice Electricity Company, and Consul-General for Romania in Nice.[4]

Honors and awards

In 1895 Gautier was ennobled and created Count Gautier Vignal by Pope Leo XIII in recognition of his dedication to the Holy See.[5] He was also made an Officer of the Legion of Honour in 1935, a Commander of the Order of the Crown of Romania, a Commander of the Swedish Order of Vasa, an Officer of the Order of the Star of Romania and a member of the Order of Polonia Restituta.[1]

Personal life

On 14 May 1883 in Nice, Gautier married Marie Boutau (1857–1910), a daughter of Jean Boutau and Agathe Désirée Perier. Together, they were the parents of:[5]

  • Madeleine Gautier Vignal (1884–1971), who married Paul Marie Adolphe de Foras, youngest son of Count Amédée de Foras, the Grand Marshal of the Court of Bulgaria, in 1910.[6] After his death in World War I, she married Viscount Christian de l'Hermite.[5]
  • Thérèse Gautier Vignal (1886–1941), who married Gérard Sublet d'Heudicourt de Lenoncourt, a son of Odelric Sublet, Marquis d'Heudicourt de Lenoncourt, and Marguerite de Suremain, in 1908.[7]
  • Eugène Louis "Paul" Albert Gautier Vignal (1887–1914), who died fighting for France during World War I.[8]
  • Louis Gautier Vignal (1888–1982), a writer who was friends with Marcel Proust.[9]
  • Elisabeth Gautier Vignal (1895–1994), who married Alberto Chiesa in 1920.[10]

After the death of his first wife in 1910, he married London born Edith Emma Schiff (1871–1953) on 29 April 1911 in Nice. A sister of Sidney Schiff and Marie Schiff (Baroness de Marwicz), they were children of stockbroker Alfred George Schiff.[9]

The Count Gautier Vignal died on 18 October 1939 at Lausanne, Switzerland.[1]

Descendants

Through his daughter Thérèse, he was a grandfather of Odile Marguerite Marie Marthe Madelene Sublet d'Heudicourt de Lenoncourt (1914–1994), who married Henri de Gramont, 13th Duke of Gramont in 1949.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Albert, Comte Gautier-Vignal". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  2. ^ "Monegasque Olympic Committee - Paris 1924". www.comite-olympique.mc. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  3. ^ "FIE Statutes" (PDF). International Fencing Federation. p. 78.
  4. ^ "Biographies of IOC Members Part III" (PDF). Journal of Olympic History. 17 (3): 52. 2009.
  5. ^ a b c Cocteau, Jean; Biagini, Jacques (2007). Jean Cocteau-- de Villefranche sur Mer: anthologie de textes, lettres, témoignages, illustrés et commentés (in French). SERRE EDITEUR. p. 16. ISBN 978-2-86410-489-6. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  6. ^ "John Meredith Read Married; Albany Man Weds Countess Alix de Foras at Rome". The New York Times. Albany, New York. 1 April 1901. p. 1. Retrieved 5 May 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Furgaux, Robert (1 January 1979). Lenoncourt en Lorraine (in French). p. 25. ISBN 978-2-307-29537-2. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  8. ^ "GAUTIER dit GAUTIER VIgnal Eugène Louis Paul Albert, (Nice, Alpes Maritimes), 027ème BCA | Nos ancêtres de 14/18". tadoukoz.net. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  9. ^ a b Klaidman, Stephen (3 September 2013). Sydney and Violet: Their Life with T.S. Eliot, Proust, Joyce and the Excruciatingly Irascible Wyndham Lewis. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-385-53410-9. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  10. ^ Figaro: artistique illustré (in French). Édition de Figaro. 1933. p. 412. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  11. ^ Jaurgain, Jean de (1968). La Maison de Gramont, 1040-1967 ... (in French). les Amis du Musée pyrénéen, [place de l'Église,]. p. 656. Retrieved 20 September 2024.