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b. 22 May 1764, Valenciennes
d. 29 December 1848, Paris
"A gentleman cadet in the infantry regiment of Barrois (91st) on 18 July 1780. Second lieutenant on 10 July 1784; lieutenant on 15 September 1791; captain of grenadiers on 22 May 1792; provisional adjutant-general chef de bataillon (appointed by the Representatives Baille, Beauvais, and Barras) on 22 Jun 1793; severely wounded at Toulon on 17 December 1793; provisional general of brigade (appointed by the Representatives Ricord, Fréron, Saliceti and Barras) on 20 Decmeber 1793; confirmed in this rank on 14 November 1794; wounded at Puycerda on 26 July 1795; general of division on 10 June 1796; placed in non-activity on 19 October 1796; commander at Perpignan on 20 November 1801; at Alessandria from 27 January 1802 to May 1814; at Strasbourg from 11 Decmber 1814 to 26 March 1815; retired on 9 September 1815; kept at Strasbourg on 13 September 1815. Commander of the 1st Military Division at Paris from 12 October 1815 to 20 January 1819; commander of the 20th Military Division on 27 January 1821; commander of the 12th Military Division at Nantes on 7 March 1821; retired on 20 August 1830 (dated from 1 September). Died in Paris, 5, rue du Regard ...
General Despinoy had been created Count on 2 March 1816. He was tall: 5 pieds 8 pouces 6 lignes [1m 85.4cm, or 6ft 1in (English measure)]. Despinoy asserted that he had been one of Bonaparte's intimates: he later quarrelled with him, and was kept on the sidelines. He revenged himself for this during the Restoration, and acquired a sad renown as a violent persecutor of his former comrades. Member of the Legion of Honour on 11 December 1803, Commander on 14 June 1804, he only became a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour on 17 August 1822. He was, moreover, a Commander of St Louis from 3 May 1816." Bouvier, F. Bonaparte en Italie, 1796, Paris, 1899, p. 655.
This spelling as used in Balteau, J. and others. Dictionnaire de biographie française, Paris, 1933-. Despinoy published a poem in imitation of Ossian in 1801. As commander of Paris in 1815 he was responsible for the details of the execution of Marshal Ney.
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