Louis Ruchonnet

Antoine Louis John Ruchonnet (28 April 1834, Lausanne – 14 September 1893, Bern) was a 19th-century Swiss attorney and politician. In 1864, he founded the Vaud Credit Union (French: l'Union vaudoise de crédit).[1]

Louis Ruchonnet
Born	Antoine Louis John Ruchonnet April 28, 1834 Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
Died	September 14, 1893 (aged 59) Bern, Bern-Mittelland, Switzerland
Resting place	Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland 46.5237°N 6.5936°E
Monuments	Musee des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne (portrait) Old Town of Lausanne (bronze statue)
Education	Univ. of Lausanne, 1856 (MLaw)
Occupation	Patent attorney
Years active	1859 – 1893
Office	President of the Swiss Confederation
Term	1883, 1890
Predecessor	Simeon Bavier, Bernhard Hammer
Successor	Emil Welti
Political party	Free Democratic Party of Switzerland
Parents	François-Louis Ruchonnet (father) Susanne Boomer (mother)
Awards	Doctorate (honorary), University of Bern (1886)

Public service

He was first elected to public service as a deputy to the Grand Council of Vaud in 1863, then twice to the Lausanne Communal Council (1866–68, 1878–81).[1] On 10 December 1875 he was elected to the Swiss Federal Council for the canton of Vaud but declined to serve. He was elected again as Federal Counsellor on 3 March 1881[2] and this time accepted the position and died still in office on 14 September 1893. He served twice as President of the Confederation, first in 1883 and again in 1890. He was a unifying figure, along with his successor as Federal Counsellor for Vaud, Eugène Ruffy, in the Free Democratic Party of Switzerland.[1]

During his time in office he was responsible for the following federal administrative departments:

• Trade and Agriculture (since renamed Economic Affairs, Education and Research) - 1881
• Foreign Affairs - 1883
• Justice and Police - 1882, 1884-93

Freemasonry

Ruchonnet was elected to serve as the first Master of Liberty Masonic Lodge (French: Loge Maçonnique Liberté à l'Orient de Lausanne) in Lausanne when it was chartered on 11 September 1871.[3]

Likenesses and namesakes

Avenue Louis-Ruchonnet in Lausanne is named after him and a bronze statue of him stands in the Old Town of Lausanne, erected in 1906. There is also an 1888 portrait of him by Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862-1947) in the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, gifted by his son Ernest in 1894.

References

1. "Ruchonnet, Louis - Swiss Historical Dictionary". Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences (in French). Retrieved 23 September 2019.
2. "Famous personalities". Grand Lodge Alpina of Switzerland (in English, French, German, and Italian). Archived from the original on 6 November 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
3. "Historique". Loge Maçonnique Liberté à l'Orient de Lausanne (in French). Retrieved 23 September 2019.

Further reading

• Rossel, Virgile (1893). Louis Ruchonnet: Sa vie, son esprit, son œuvre (in French). Lausanne: F. Payot.

External links

• Profile of Louis Ruchonnet with election results on the website of the Swiss Federal Council.
• Biography of Louis Ruchonnet on the website of the Swiss Parliament.