Pierre François Dumont

Pierre François Dumont was born on 12 January 1789 in Bouchain, Nord.[1] His parents were Jean Baptiste Dumont and Marie Félicité Joseph Rémy.[2] His father was a wealthy baker in Bouchain.[3] During the Napoleonic Wars he enlisted as a simple soldier in 1808, and served in Spain until 1814. He received the cross of the Legion of Honour on the battlefield of Arapiles.[2] He rose to the rank of captain of the light infantry.[4] He fought at the battles of Toulouse and Waterloo.[2]

Dumont was placed on half pay at the Bourbon Restoration, and retired to Bouchain. There he became an associate in exploiting the Raismes foundry.[2] Dumont became a knight of the Legion of Honour on 10 October 1816.[4] Around 1824 Dumont et Cie was founded "to exploit the first establishments of forges and rolling mills of Valenciennes". In 1828 Dumont applied for a concession to operate iron mines in the canton of Maubeuge, and for authorization to establish two iron furnaces at Ferrière-la-Grande powered by steam.[5] Dumont founded the factories at Ferrière-la-Grande in 1830, the first coke-fired blast furnaces in the north of France to produce and mould pig-iron from the local minerals.[6]

In 1834, Dumont bought half of the land for the Denain iron factory, the other half belonging to Serret and Lelièvre.[5] The Société Serret, Lelièvre et Cie was constituted in 1834 to build and run the Forges de Denain. The partners were Georges Serret, Isidore Charpentier-Odolant and Charles Lelièvre. Dumont also participated. Serret and Dumont were also partners in the Forges de Raismes (Renaux, Dumont et Cie).[7] The factory in Denain was located beside the Escaut river, which had been canalized between Valenciennes and Cambrai since 1775.[8] The Mines d'Anzin operated three coal mines 100 metres (330 ft) below the Denain factory.[8] The first coke-fired blast furnaces of the Forges de Denain began operations in 1836.[9]

Dumont married Aglaé-Renelde-Marianne-Antoinette de Martigny des Roches on 18 October 1841.[10] In 1849 Léon Talabot took control of the Denain and Anzin forges and merged them.[9] Talabot combined the Forges et Laminoirs d'Anzin with the Serret, Lelièvre, Dumont et Cie company of Denain to form the Société des hauts-fourneaux et des forges de Denain et Anzin, the largest metallurgical company in the Nord Department.[11] By decree of 23 April 1859 Dumont was granted a concession to build a railway line to link the factories Ferrière-la-Grande to the Saint-Quentin line at Erquelinnes. The line was built on land acquired by Dumont or expropriated on the grounds of public utility.[12]

Dumont became a municipal councilor and a general councilor in the department of Nord. On 21 June 1834 he was elected deputy for the constituency of Valenciennes, Nord.[2] At first he sat with the center left, but then joined the dynastic opposition led by Odilon Barrot. He was reelected on 4 November 1837 and on 2 March 1839. He left office on 12 June 1842 and retired from national politics.[2] Dumont was mayor of Ferrière-la-Grande from 1860 to 1864.[13] He was awarded the Saint Helena Medal.[4]

Pierre François Dumont died on 27 July 1864 in Ferrière-la-Grande, Nord.[1] He was survived by his widow and by his son and sole heir Alphonse-Edgard Dumont.[10] There is a Rue Pierre-François Dumont in Ferrière-la-Grande.[14]