Joseph Torrent

Joseph Torrent (born January 4, 1795 in Monthey , † May 14, 1885 ibid) was a Swiss politician . He represented the canton of Valais in the National Council for three years .

biography

The son of Jean-Joseph Torrent and Marie-Anne Carraux worked as a farmer and ran a silkworm farm . From 1841 he was president of the civic community of Monthey and made radical liberal statements in appearance. As the conflicts with the Catholic Conservatives intensified, Torrent led the local section of Young Switzerland in 1844 . This organization, inspired by Giuseppe Mazzini , strove for complete political equality between the then dominant Upper Valais and the disadvantaged Lower Valais. On May 21, 1844, irregulars from Young Switzerland suffered a heavy defeat in the battle on Trento near Vernayaz , whereupon the conservatives seized power.

Torrent then had to flee into exile via Savoy to Geneva . After the surrender of the Valais in the Sonderbund War , he returned and from 1848 was a member of the Monthey council for over a quarter of a century . In the years 1848 to 1850, 1853 to 1855 and 1865 to 1870 he served as mayor . From 1853 to 1859 he was Prefect of Monthey and from 1854 to 1877 he sat for the radical liberals in the Grand Council of the Canton of Valais . Torrent ran in the National Council elections in 1860 and was elected in the constituency of Lower Valais . After three years he decided not to stand for re-election.

In the military he had the rank of lieutenant colonel since 1851 . His older brother Pierre Torrent was a Councilor of State for the Canton of Valais for a short time .

Web links

• Bernard Truffer: Torrent, Joseph. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Joseph Torrent on the website of the Federal Assembly

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Le Comité de Martigny. Valais libre, February 15, 2012, accessed April 29, 2020 (French). 
2. ↑ La bataille du Trento: une guerre civile enflamme le pays. (PDF, 108 kB) Le Courrier, July 5, 2014, accessed on December 1, 2014 (French). 
3. ^ Bernard Truffer: Torrent, Pierre. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . March 1, 2011 , accessed April 29, 2020 .

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