Jacques Laffitte
Laffitte, Jacques
Born Oct. 24, 1767, in Bayonne; died May 26, 1844, in Paris. French politician and banker. Governor of the Bank of France from 1814 to 1819.
During the Restoration, Laffitte belonged to the moderate wing of the bourgeois opposition. From 1814 to the end of his life (with a few brief interruptions) he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies. During the July Revolution of 1830 he was a leader of the “municipal commission,” which helped bring Louis Philippe, duke of Orléans, to the throne. From November 1830 to March 1831, Laffitte was the head of the government and minister of finance, after which he retired and left active political life.