Henry Fouquier

[2] At the age of 22 he began travelling and spent several years in Spain, Italy and later Switzerland, where he entered the Geneva Institute, studying Italian painting.

[3] Attracted by journalism he moved to Paris in 1861, where he wrote for several newspapers, such as the Courrier du Dimanche, La Presse and L'Avenir National.

Liberal journalists like Fouquier had to exercise great ingenuity and wit to get their views across to their readers without falling foul of the authorities.

Back in France, following the fall of the Empire in 1870 he was appointed secretary general of the Bouches-du-Rhône département, and then acting prefect, distinguishing himself by his courage in resisting the communard insurrection in Marseille.

[2] Fouquier contributed to a range of publications, often under pen names, including "Spectator" in L'Événement, Le Bien public and the Courrier de France, "Colombine" in Gil Blas and "Nestor" in the Echo de Paris,[4] but as Le Temps put it, ten lines of any of his columns were enough to make it obvious who the author was.

[10] Fouquier died on Christmas Day 1901 in a nursing home in Neuilly-sur-Seine after a short illness and an unsuccessful operation, and was buried in the Passy Cemetery in Paris.