Jules Ferry

Jules Ferry (1832-1893) French statesman and premier. Jules François Camille Ferry was born in St. Dié. He began practicing law when he was 19, but extensive travel throughout Europe led him to journalism. His articles for Paris newspapers, at first descriptive and anecdotal, became increasingly political. Between 1868 and 1870 Ferry wrote a number of noted articles sharply criticizing the imperial policies of France’s Emperor Napoleon III.

Elected to the Paris’s legislative body, Ferry sat on the opposition side in the last Imperial Chamber. Along with other Republican members, he voiced his opposition to war with Prussia in July 1870. In the period following the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), Ferry rose to become one of the leading figures in the ranks of French Republicans. He entered the government as minister of education in February 1879, and for the next six years he was almost continually in ministerial office. He served twice as premier: from September 1880 to November 1881, and from February 1883 to March 1885.