Marquis

Marquis

Marquis is a French and Scottish title of nobility. The English equivalent is Marquess, while in German, it is Markgraf.It may also refer to:Persons:...

 Jules Félix Philippe Albert de Dion (March 9, 1856, Carquefou

Carquefou

Carquefou is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France.-Sport:In 2008, the local football team Union Sportive Jeanne d'Arc Carquefou reached the quarter finals of the French Cup after a win over the 8-times national champions Olympique de Marseille on March 19, putting the town...

, Loire-Atlantique

Loire-Atlantique

Loire-Atlantique is a department on the west coast of France named after the Loire River and the Atlantic Ocean.-History:...

 - August 19, 1946) was a pioneer of the automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 industry in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

His life

Scion

Kinship

Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent. And descent groups, lineages, etc. are treated in their own subsections....

 of a leading French noble family and "a notorious duellist", de Dion had a passion for mechanics. He had already built a model steam engine when, in 1881, he saw one in a store window and asked about building another. The engineers Georges Bouton

Georges Bouton

Georges Bouton was a French engineer, who along with fellow Frenchman Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion, founded De Dion-Bouton in 1883. The pair had first worked together in 1882 to produce a self-propelled steam vehicle...

 and his brother-in-law, Charles Trépardoux, had a shop in Léon

Léon, Landes

Léon, Landes is a commune in the Landes department in Aquitaine in south-western France.-See also:*Communes of the Landes department...

 where they made scientific toys. Needing money for Trépardoux's long-time dream of a steam car

Steam car

A steam car is a light car powered by a steam engine.Steam locomotives, steam engines capable of propelling themselves along either road or rails, developed around one hundred years earlier than internal combustion engine cars although their weight restricted them to agricultural and heavy haulage...

, they acceded to De Dion's request.

During 1883 they formed a partnership which became the de Dion-Bouton

De Dion-Bouton

De Dion-Bouton was a French automobile manufacturer and railcar manufacturer operating from 1883 to 1932. The company was founded by the Marquis Jules-Albert de Dion, Georges Bouton and his brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux....

 automobile company, the world's largest automobile manufacturer for a time. They tried marine steam engines, but progressed to a steam car which used belts to drive the front wheels whilst steering with the rear. This was destroyed by fire during trials. In 1884 they built another

La Marquise

La Marquise, is, as of October 2011, thought to be the world's oldest running automobile. It is an 1884 model made by De Dion, Bouton & Trépardoux of France...

 with steerable front wheels and drive to the rear wheels. As of 2011, it is the world's oldest running car, and is capable of carrying four people at up to 38mph.

Comte

Comte

Comte is a title of Catalan, Occitan and French nobility. In the English language, the title is equivalent to count, a rank in several European nobilities. The corresponding rank in England is earl...

de Dion entered one in an 1887 trial, "Europe's first motoring competition", the brainchild of one M.

Monsieur

' is an honorific title that used to refer to or address the eldest living brother of the king in the French royal court. It is also a customary French title of respect and term of address for a French-speaking man, corresponding to such English titles as Mr...

 Fossier of cycling magazine Le Vélocipède. Evidently, the promotion was insufficient, for the de Dion was the sole entrant, but it completed the course.

The "dead axle" named for him was actually invented by steam advocate Trépardoux, just before he resigned because the company was turning to internal combustion.

Comte de Dion also founded the Mondial de l'Automobile

Mondial de l'Automobile

The Paris Motor Show is a biennial auto show in Paris. Held around October, it is one of the most important auto shows, often with many new production automobile and concept car debuts. The show was the first motor show in the world, started in 1898 by industry pioneer, Albert de Dion. The show...

 (Paris Motor Show) in 1898. He died in 1946, age 90.

Racing career

Motor racing was started in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, as a direct result of the enthusiasm with which the French public embraced the motor car. Manufacturers were enthusiastic due to the possibility of using motor racing as a shop window for their cars. The first motor race took place on July 22, 1894 and was organised by Le Petit Journal

Le Petit Journal

Le Petit Journal was a daily Parisian newspaper published from 1863 to 1944. It was founded by Moïse Polydore Millaud. In its columns were published several serial novels of Émile Gaboriau and of Ponson du Terrail.- Publishing :...

, a Parisian newspaper. It was run over the 122 kilometres (75.8 mi) distance between Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and Rouen

Rouen

Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

. The race was won by de Dion, although he was not awarded the prize for first place as his steam powered car required a stoker and the judges deemed this outside of their objectives.

Dreyfus Affair

The roots of both the Tour de France

Tour de France

The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

 cycle race and L'Auto (L'Équipe

L'Équipe

L'Équipe is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sports, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of football , rugby, motorsports and cycling...

), daily sporting newspaper, can be traced to the Dreyfus Affair

Dreyfus Affair

The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...

 and de Dion's passionate opinion and actions.

Opinions were heated and there were demonstrations by both sides in the Dreyfus Affair. Historian Eugen Weber

Eugen Weber

Eugen Joseph Weber was a Romanian-born American historian with a special focus on Western Civilization and the Western Tradition....

 described an 1899 conflagration at the Auteuil

Auteuil-Neuilly-Passy

Auteuil and Passy are part of the 16th arrondissement of Paris. They are located near the Bois de Boulogne and the suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine too....

 horse-race course in Paris as "an absurd political shindig" when, among other events the President of France (Émile Loubet)

Émile Loubet

Émile François Loubet was a French politician and the 8th President of France.-Early life:He was born the son of a peasant proprietor and mayor of Marsanne . Admitted to the Parisian bar in 1862, he took his doctorate in law the next year...

 was struck on the head by a walking stick

Walking stick

A walking stick is a device used by many people to facilitate balancing while walking.Walking sticks come in many shapes and sizes, and can be sought by collectors. Some kinds of walking stick may be used by people with disabilities as a crutch...

 wielded by de Dion. He served 15 days in jail and was fined 100 francs, and his behaviour was heavily criticised by Le Vélo

Le Vélo

-External links:*...

, the largest daily sports newspaper in France, and its Dreyfusard editor, Pierre Giffard

Pierre Giffard

Pierre Giffard was a French journalist, a pioneer of modern political reporting, a newspaper publisher and a prolific sports organiser...

. The result was that de Dion withdrew of all his advertising from the paper, and in 1900 he led a group of wealthy 'anti-Dreyfusard' manufacturers, such as Adolphe Clément

Adolphe Clément

Gustave Adolphe Clément-Bayard was a French entrepreneur...

, to found L'Auto-Velo and compete directly with Le Velo. After a legally enforced change of name to L'Auto it in turn created the Tour de France race in 1903 to boost falling circulation.

L'Auto

In 1900 de Dion led a group of wealthy anti-Dreyfusards including Édouard Michelin

Edouard Michelin

Édouard Michelin was a French industrialist. He was born in Clermont-Ferrand, France. Édouard and his elder brother André served as co-directors of the Michelin company....

 to start a rival daily sports paper, L'Auto-Velo. De Dion and Michelin were particularly concerned with Le Vélo – which reported more than cycling – because its financial backer was one of their commercial rivals, the Darracq

Darracq

Automobiles Darracq S.A. was a French motor vehicle manufacturing company founded in 1896 by Alexandre Darracq.Using part of the substantial profit he had made from selling his Gladiator bicycle factory, Alexandre Darracq began operating from a plant in the Parisian suburb of Suresnes...

 company. De Dion believed that Le Vélo gave Darracq too much attention and him too little. De Dion was an outspoken man who already wrote columns for Le Figaro

Le Figaro

Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...

, Le Matin and others. His wealth allowed him to indulge his whims, which also included founding Le Nain Jaune (the yellow gnome), a fortnightly publication which "answers no particular need."

Sources

• Georgano, G. N. Cars: Early and Vintage, 1886-1930. London: Grange-Universal, 1990 (reprints AB Nordbok 1985 edition).
• Wise, David Burgess, "De Dion: The Aristocrat and the Toymaker", in Ward, Ian, executive editor. The World of Automobiles (London: Orbis Publishing, 1974), Volume 5, p.510-4.
• Profile on Historic Racing

External links