Paul Dutreil
(1831-1902)
9 March 1861

Volume 2, page 286, sitting number 2434.

Born on 1 November 1831 at Laval in the Mayenne department of northwestern France, Paul Marie Bernard Dutreil was the son of Jules Bernard Dutreil.

He originally followed a career as a diplomat and throughout the 1860s was a secretary at the French embassy in London. In 1873 a newspaper report mentioned him as the ‘second secretary to the French Embassy’ (Morning Post, 3 February 1873). He returned to France shortly afterwards and during the first ministry of the duc de Broglie he served as the chef du cabinet of the 2nd duc Decazes, who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In 1876 he succeeded his father as the senator for la Mayenne. Although he was beaten in the election of 1879, he retrieved his seat in 1888 and held it until 1897. He was the Secretary of the Senate from 1892 to 1895.

Through his wife Hélène-Julie de Creutzer he inherited an estate at Erbsenthal in Lorraine. Although the region had been annexed by Germany during the Franco-Prussian War, Dutreil obtained the Kaiser’s authorisation to stay on the estate for six weeks a year and enjoy the hunting that it afforded.

His daughter Hélène was one of the victims of the fire at the Bazar de la Charité in 1897. His son Maurice succeeded him as Senateur of la Mayenne.

Paul Dutreil died in Paris on 3 July 1902 and was buried in the Cemetery of Père Lachaise.