The title was resurrected by an Imperial edict of Napoleon III in 1864.
He was the son of Charles Isidor Davout (1774-1854) and wife (married in 1824) Claire de Chevery (1804-1895).
Davout was born to a Burgundian noble family and served in the French Army from 1849 until 1877.
He took part in Napoleon III's disastrous Franco-Prussian War.
He married on June 16, 1858 Jeanne Alice de Voize, by whom he had issue, three daughters and a son: