Guillaume-Antoine-Benoît Capelle was born on 9 September 1775 in Salles-Curan, then in Rouergue and today in Aveyron, to a family of judges.

[1] Capelle was briefly an itinerant actor, before marrying and becoming the commander of the National Guard of Millau.

After the coup of 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799) he was sent as a delegate to Paris by his fellow citizens to congratulate the consular government.

The prefecture bordered the states of the Elisa Bonaparte, the Princess of Lucca and Piombino, who was extremely jealous of his authority.

[1] This intimacy with his sister displeased the Emperor, who moved Capelle to the position of prefect of Geneva on 30 November 1810.

[1] After the first Bourbon Restoration, on 10 June 1814 Capelle accepted the position of Prefect of Ain from King Louis XVIII.

He was tried in absentia before the Court of Peers and sentenced to life imprisonment, confiscation of property and the loss of all his titles.