Jean Raymond Bourke

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Jean Raymond Bourke (born August 12, 1772 in Lorient , Département Morbihan , † August 29, 1847 in Ploemeur ) was a French general de division of Irish infantry .

Live and act

Bourke came from a family of officers whose ancestors had emigrated from Ireland after the Battle of the Boyne (July 11, 1690) and had retained their independence in France. His father Richard Bourke was the ducal stable master and his mother Marie-Jacquette Saint-John lady-in-waiting.

On January 10, 1788, he joined the irlandaise brigade as a cadet to continue the family tradition as a member of the Wild Geese . He was soon able to distinguish himself through bravery and his career led him from Sous-lieutenant (July 10, 1788), Lieutenant (September 5, 1792) to Capitaine (November 3, 1792). Bourke was a great supporter of Napoleon Bonaparte from an early age .

In 1798 Bourke was promoted to Chef de bataillon and joined General O'Meara's staff. He took part in the Irish expedition and fell into the hands of the English. In January 1799 he was released from captivity “on word of honor” and was able to return to France.

During Napoleon's reorganization of the Grande Armée , Bourke came to General Charles Victoire Emmanuel Leclerc as an aide-de-camp and accompanied him with his expeditionary army to Saint-Domingue ( Hispaniola ) to put down the uprising led by Toussaint Louverture . In 1803 he returned to France and changed - also in the office of aide-de-camp - to the staff of General Louis-Nicolas Davout . Under his leadership he fought at Austerlitz (December 2, 1805), Auerstedt (October 14, 1806) and Preußisch Eylau (February 7/8, 1807) and was wounded in almost all battles.

This was followed by further promotions in the battles of Teugn-Hausen (April 19, 1809), Eggmühl (April 22, 1809) and Wagram (July 5/6, 1809), Bourke led his own command and was public because of his bravery and Napoleon commended.

In 1810 Bourke was commanded to Spain (→ Napoleonic Wars on the Iberian Peninsula ) and joined the staff of Marshal Honoré-Charles Reille . In addition to some battles, he also took part in the sieges of Valencia (March 1810), Lleida (April / May 1810) and Ciudad Rodrigo (April / June 1810).

In the spring of 1811 Bourke moved to the staff of General Louis Gabriel Suchet . Two years later, wounded and highly decorated, he was able to return to France. After the siege of Wesel , Napoleon appointed Bourke as military governor of this city. After the battle of Paris (March 30, 1814) and Napoleon's abdication , Bourke refused to surrender the city, as he had not yet received a personal order from his emperor.

When Napoleon left the island of Elba and his rule of the Hundred Days began, Bourke was among the first to recognize their emperor again. After the Battle of Waterloo (June 18, 1815) Bourke became part of the Bourbons and supported King Louis XVIII.

After a few years in provisional retirement, Bourke was again entrusted with military tasks from autumn 1819. When Louis XVIII. Preparing his intervention in Spain , Bourke was also appointed to the General Staff. Under the command of Louis-Antoine de Bourbon, duc d'Angoulême , he fought in Spain to end the revolution and to bring King Ferdinand VII back to government.

Bourke's support of King Charles X brought him in 1824 the peerage and a seat in the Chambre des Pairs , the upper house of Parliament . After the July Revolution of 1830 Bourke slowly withdrew into private life. He was officially retired by King Louis-Philippe I on August 12, 1837. He settled in Ploemeur and died there 17 days before his 65th birthday on August 29, 1847.

Honors

literature

Non-fiction
  • Robert Adolphe, Gaston Cougny (Ed.): Dictionnaire des parlementaires français, Volume 1: A – Cay . Slatkine, Geneva 2000, ISBN 2-05-101711-5 . (unchanged reprint of Paris 1889 edition)
  • David G. Chandler : The campaigns of Napoleon . Weidenfeld, London 1993, ISBN 0-297-81367-6 . (Reprint of the London 1966 edition)
  • Charles Mullié: Biography of the célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850. Volume 1, Poignavant, Paris 1852.
  • Georges Six: Dictionnaire biographique des généraux et amiraux français de la Révolution et de l'Émpire 1792–1814 . Saffroy, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-901541-06-2 . (unchanged reprint of the Paris 1934 edition)
  • Jean Tulard (Ed.): Dictionnaire Napoléon . 2 volumes. Fayard, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-213-60485-1 .
Fiction
  • Sabine Ebert: 1815 - Blood Peace. Novel. Knaur, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-426-65272-5 . (deals with the end of the Napoleonic era and Jean Raymond Bourke is often mentioned)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Awarded by King Friedrich August I.
  2. ↑ Awarded by King Ferdinand VII.
  3. ↑ Awarded by Tsar Alexander I.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Bourke, Jean Raymond
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Irish-French general of the infantry
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1772
PLACE OF BIRTH Lorient , Morbihan department
DATE OF DEATH August 29, 1847
Place of death Ploemeur