Léon Geoffray

Léon Marcel Isidore Geoffray (1852–1927) was a French diplomat and was later Ambassador to Madrid.[1][2]

Léon Geoffray in 1912

Biography

Léon Marcel Geoffray Isidore was born in Passy on 1 October 1852 to Pierre-Joseph Geoffray (1804-1886), and Juliette (called Julie) Wild Josephine de La Martinière.

Léon and his brother Marcel were educated in Passy by their mother, and a tutor. Leon Geoffray studied law at the Faculte de Droit in Paris, by the age of twenty five he had obtained a degree of Doctor of Law, before entering the diplomatic service.[3]

He was at first attached to the legal department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1877, then to the embassy in Constantinople from 1877 to 1879, and back to the legal department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1879). He rose through the ranks: senior clerk (1883); editor (1886); Secretary of the Embassy (1891).

Geoffray was appointed Senior Advisor to the embassy in London in 1895, with the rank of first class secretary, and minister plenipotentiary in 1896. He became passionately committed to healing Anglo-French relations and desired to achieve an alliance between England and France. He continued to work on maintaining Anglo-French relations up to his departure from London in 1908.

Geoffray was Consul General in Cairo from 1908 to 1910, and in July 1910 Ambassador of France to Madrid, remaining in Spain until dismissed in October 1917. Leon Geoffray died in Paris on 25 December 1927.

Personal

He was the owner of the castle of Vaulx (17th century) in Saint-Julien-de-Civry, Saône-et-Loire, and instructed the landscaper Achille Duchêne to develop the park in 1900. He married Louise Marcotte Quivières, with whom he had two sons, Pierre Geoffray (1884-1975) and Edme Geoffray (1886-1926).

Honours

King Alfonso XIII granted him the Collar of the Order of Charles III.[4] and Edward VII created him an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.[5]

References
  1. Sharp, Alan; Stone, Glyn; Stone, Professor Glyn A. (2002-03-11). Anglo-French Relations in the Twentieth Century: Rivalry and Cooperation. Routledge. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-134-69073-2.
  2. Jackson, Peter (2013-12-05). Beyond the Balance of Power: France and the Politics of National Security in the Era of the First World War. Cambridge University Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-1-107-78303-4.
  3. The Anglo-African Who's who and Biographical Sketch-book. George Routledge & Sons. 1910. p. 86. GEOFFRAY , Leon , Diplomatic Agent and Consul - General for France in Cairo since 1908. Born 1852. Studied at Faculté de Droit , Paris , where he took degree of Doctor of Law , and at age of twenty - five joined the Litigation Department of ...
  4. Guía oficial de España Year 1920, p.212
  5. "No. 28163". The London Gazette. 31 July 1908. p. 5634.
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