Hippolyte Laroche

Hippolyte Laroche was born on 26 January 1848 in Lyon, France. His father was a colonel of the Engineers. Laroche attended Naval Academy and became a naval officer. He was then made prefect of Charente, Algiers, Loire and Haute-Garonne.[1]

Laroche was appointed Resident General in Madagascar, and arrived at Tananarive on 16 January 1896.[2] Paul Anthelme Bourde was appointed Secretary General of Madagascar in 1895.[3] Bourde left France for Madagascar in January 1896. He soon fell out with Laroche, who accused him of trying to usurp his position.[4] In his short term of office, Laroche succeeded in passing a law that abolished slavery. He had the difficult task of keeping a balance between the French settlers and military and Queen Ranavalona III. He did not succeed since he had no control over the military, who pursued a scorched earth policy in suppressing an uprising of the local people. He left on 10 October 1896 when the government ended his mission.[2]

Laroche signed the Adresse à Dreyfus that appeared in L'Aurore in September 1899.[5] On 19 February 1904 Laroche was an unsuccessful candidate for the Assembly in a by-election for the arrondissement of La Flèche. In the general elections the next year he ran again and won by a narrow margin. He ran again in 1910 and was reelected. He was a member of commissions on Foreign affairs and the colonies, posts and telegraphs and the military.[1]

Laroche died on 14 September 1914 in Le Mans, Sarthe, France.[1]

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