Édouard Bocher

Pierre Henri Édouard Bocher (16 February 1811, Paris - 2 May 1900, Paris) was a French politician.

Life

The son of a Paris stock broker, he became auditor to the Conseil d’État in 1833 and sub-prefect for Étampes in 1834. In 1834 he married Aline de Laborde (1811-1885), second daughter of comte Alexandre de Laborde and an accomplished lady of letters. They had two children:

• Emmanuel Bocher (1835-1919), officer, writer, pianist, painter, editor of the complete works of Gavarni and great friend of Sarah Bernhardt
• Valentin Bocher (1840-1849)

In 1839 Édouard was made prefect for Gers, then in 1841 for Toulouse and in 1842 for Caen. In 1848 he stopped being prefect for Calvados and in 1849 he became deputy for that department, sitting on the right. He protested against the 1851 coup. Opposed to the Second French Empire, he and others were put in charge of dealing with the property of Louis-Philippe I and his family.

In 1871 he was elected to represent Calvados, sitting in the centre-right group, of which he became president. He was senator for Calvados from 1876 to 1894, sitting on the right.

A great book collector, he assembled a remarkable collection of rare books. He was a close friend of Alfred de Musset, who dedicated one of his first poems to him.

Bibliography

• François d'Ormesson and Jean-Pierre Thomas, Jean-Joseph de Laborde, banquier de Louis XV, mécène des Lumières, Paris, Perrin, 2002, p. 294-295 - (ISBN 2-262-01820-0)
• "Édouard Bocher", in Robert and Cougny, Dictionnaire des parlementaires français, 1889