Charles-François Richard, also known as Richard-Chambovet (born 9 August 1772 in Bourg-Argental, Forez province; died 15 April 1851 in Saint-Chamond, Loire department), was a French silk industrialist, and more notably the initiator of the lace industry.
After a brief military interlude - due to the revolutionary turmoil - his beginnings as a miller were modest. He then established himself as a passementier specializing in the manufacture of padous, the ribbons needed for culottes and catogans. But ruined for the first time by the general economic slump, fashion later abandoned them for good, putting an end to the business. Looking for a new direction, Richard went to the brand-new Musée des Arts et Métiers, where he met Joseph de Montgolfier. There, he found a rudimentary braiding loom that produced round-section elements - until then, weaving looms had only been able to produce flat elements - and from then on, he worked tirelessly to improve it.
Thus, this pioneer paved the way for the industrial manufacture of laces. On the one hand, he innovated by developing these looms, and on the other, he added a steam engine as a driving force. Later, he remained a pioneer, installing a central-heating boiler in his workshops, which increased profitability and enabled more meticulous work. Finally, he equipped his workshops with gas lighting to boost productivity.
As part of the nascent industrial revolution, Charles-François Richard was at the origin of an industry that dominated Europe and was recognized as far afield as America. The production of laces was of prime importance at this time: they were very widespread haberdashery items, used for a variety of fastenings. As a result, the town of Saint-Chamond, where Richard settled, became a major player in this field.
Biography Baptized on 9 August 1772, the day of his birth in Bourg-Argental, Charles-François Richard was the second of six siblings. His parents were Jean-Louis Richard, a court clerk and future deputy to the Estates General of 1789, and Marie Chevalier. Involved in the silk industry, the household earned part of its income from the cultivation of mulberry trees on which silkworms were raised.
At the age of twenty-one, with the National Guards of Saint-Étienne and Montbrison, he went to Lyon to help with the city's uprising against the National Convention. On 11 fructidor year I (28 August 1793), his detachment, posted to protect the arrival of a convoy of grain from Forez, successfully confronted a besieging formation. But, abandoned by his family, he became a "forgotten sentry [...] [who] tried in vain to return to Lyon, [who] obtained peasant's clothes and returned to Bourg-Argental [...]". Outlawed, he enlisted in Tournon in the 4th battalion of Ardèche volunteers. This unit, formed on the 4th Complementary Day of Year I (20 September 1793) in Bourg-Saint-Andéol, was commanded by Louis-Gabriel Suchet, from a family of silk merchants. After the siege of Toulon, he joined his father Jean-Louis Richard, also a proscribe, in the same battalion in Marseille. This commitment was sometimes physically demanding, as his son Ennemond explains: "My father had been a soldier in the Army of Italy; for eight months, he had been deprived of his military bag and had slept with the snow, in the hedges that were half-open and then covered with his coat". His constitution proved robust, however, and the only health problems he encountered later on were limited to urinary stones, which required the intervention of a Parisian surgeon. In 1794, he attained the rank of lieutenant. Then, released from all obligations on 9 Floréal Year IV (28 April 1796) by "the board of directors of the 69th demi-brigade of line infantry", he left the Army of Italy as a supernumerary officer.
On 23 fructidor, year VI (9 September 1798), he married a relative by marriage named Marie Chambovet in Saint-Chamond, from whom he had four childrenHis four children, born in Saint-Chamond, were: Jean Louis François (30 brumaire an XIII (21 November 1804)), Ennemond Julien (25 January 1806), François Jules (12 January 1815), Jeanne Françoise Marie Louise (10 September 1820). and from whom he took his customary name "Richard-Chambovet".
By 1817, working in the silk industry, he was an established industrialist. The six-member Chambre consultative des arts et manufactures de Saint-Étienne elected him miller.As "moulinier" (miller), as it seems that the activity of "lace maker" was not yet recognized. After its dissolution in 1792, the Société d'agriculture, arts et commerce de l'arrondissement de Saint-Étienne was recreated in 1820. His first Bulletin, from 1823, indicates that he is a member. In 1824, this Society published part of the notice princeps in which he described his early career. The commentary was laudatory, as Saint-Chamond, under his impetus, became the capital of shoelaces. In 1827, Richard-Chambovet had a hôtel particulier built as a testament to his success, with a garden that reached as far as the city limits.The Richard-Chambovet mansion has coordinates 45° 28′ 35″ N, 4° 30′ 38″ E.The Richard-Chambovet hôtel particulier is U-shaped. At the beginning of the 20th century, its courtyard was enclosed by monumental railings - visible on Wikimedia Commons - which disappeared in the 21st century. Nevertheless, the building is still present at 44-48 rue de la République, although it is divided into apartments with a courtyard filled with housing. "The fronts of the balconies bear the family initials Richard-Chambovet, the year 1827 and the lyre, an antique decorative motif in vogue at the time." In 1829, probably because of his notability, he was the "temporal godfather" of the new Ursuline house in Saint-Chamond.The bell, Marie-Charlotte, in the newly erected chapel of the Ursuline house bears his and his wife's first names. In 1833, he was still listed as a full member of the Society.
Electoral mandates were added to his manufacturing activities. He was a member of the Saint-Chamond town council in 1808. This council favored the Restoration. Its vision of social peace was based on a balance between the divine monarchy, the church, and commercial prosperity.A table posted at the Saint-Chamond town hall lists all the mayors of this commune since January 1792, without interruption. He does not appear on it. So, contrary to what some sources claim, he was never mayor of Saint-Chamond. From 1829 to 1831, he was elected mayor of Izieux.
His work was honored with many distinctions. In 1814, he received the decoration of the Lily.On 27 August 1814 Saint-Chamond's town council requested the King's blessing and the decoration of the Lily. These are described as a distinctive sign that honors friends of the Bourbon throne. The municipal council recalls the industries, morals and attachment of the commune to a religious practice inherited from the ancients and never denied (despite the revolutionary turmoil). On 20 December 1831 he was made a Knight of the Royal Order of the Legion of Honor.Opposite, his signature in the Légion d'honneur file. In 1839, French industrialists awarded his company a silver medal at the Exposition des Produits de l'Industrie Française in Paris. This was awarded not simply for the products exhibited, but for the work accomplished as a whole. It concluded: "Twenty-five to thirty years ago, Saint-Chamond delivered thirty thousand francs' worth of laces to the trade, now it delivers more than two million francs' worth".
In 1839, Richard-Chambovet relinquished his business to his three sons, who adopted "Richard Frères" as their corporate name. Finally, his death was declared on 16 April 1851 by his eldest son, who planned to have him buried in Lyon.Charles-François Richard - known as Richard-Chambovet - is not buried in the family vault, which houses contemporaries and subsequent generations including his son Jean-Louis Richard(-Vitton), in the former cemetery of La Guillotière (a commune adjacent to Lyon until its amalgamation in 1852), according to a photograph of the tombstone. The eldest son retired to Château de Montchat before his father's death, and on 30 October 1865 the youngest son retired to Château du Montellier in the Ain region. Eventually, only the second son, Ennemond Richard, took over the business.
In 1889, the industrialist was honored in Saint-Chamond by a road named "rue Richard-Chambovet". In 1890, when the municipality of Saint-Étienne handed over the entire Palais de la Bourse to the Chamber of Commerce, the latter undertook several decoration projects, including busts of Richard-Chambovet, which were donated by the families. Félix Thiollier produced heliogravures of these busts.The complete Richard-Chambovet heliogravure by Félix Thiollier can be seen here on Wikimedia Commons. Later, his brother made a presentation on the subject to the aforementioned Chamber. This presentation, printed in 1894, devoted a chapter to Richard-Chambovet.
Silk industrialist
Moulinier In 1790 and 1791, Richard was an apprentice miller.He then learned to "twist or spin silk [raw silk, to make it strong,] with a sort of mill equipped with bobbins and spindles". In 1792 and 1793, he was employed by a ribbon manufacturer in Saint-Étienne. The French Revolution then took him on a three-year military tour. On his return, he found a position as a miller in Saint-Chamond, with a man named Coron.
Passmentier
In May 1797, he set up shop as a manufacturer of passementerie and padous, which were used to trim garments.Padou is a "woven ribbon made of half thread and half silk". They are also used to tie men's hair into catanogans, and to lace shoes. For optimum production, Richard bought many Zurich-style loomsRibbon mills in the Basel region - like those in Krefeld, Germany - are competitors to those in Saint-Étienne, which is why French manufacturers are keeping a close eye on their technical developments.A multi-spindle loom was developed by a mechanic from Zurich. Thus "it was from the village of Aiche [about 14 km from Basle], in Switzerland, that the first 'bar loom' came out, allowing several ribbons to be woven at once. It was called the "Zurich loom". capable of weaving twelve to twenty-four at a time, depending on the width required: he installed these machines in Saint-Chamond. He also manufactured sewing silks.Sewing silks" are "silk threads for sewing". In 1799, the Army of Italy began the Italian campaign against the Second Coalition, with setbacks that caused the already bloodless French state to lose the few territorial conquests that were barely holding it together. In the economic doldrums of the Directoire period, Richard-Chambovet was ruined for the first time.
However, he resumed his activities just as the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire brought economic recovery. It was then that he had to contend with Lyon's industry, which, out of protectionism, forbade dyers and chevilleursThe chevilleur is "the person who prepares raw silk for manufacturers and merchants. from working for Saint-Chamond's sewing silk manufacturers, and with fashion, which definitively adopted short hair and abandoned culottes in favor of pants, rendering padous useless. In 1804, for the second time, he went bankrupt.
Laces manufacturer
Conservatoire des arts et métiers Against this backdrop, Richard-Chambovet seemed discouraged. As Thiollier states in his 1894 biographical note: "His family possesses letters written by him at this time, in which he declares that if he were not married, he would immediately return to service to seek glory or death".