12 Facts About Ernest Mercier

Ernest Mercier was a French industrialist, director of the French Petroleum Company, the forerunner of the French petroleum conglomerate Total.

Ernest Mercier's father, Jean Ernest Mercier, had served as military-interpreter of Arabic to the colonial army and was a prolific author.

Ernest Mercier was posted to the port in Toulon, where he was responsible for modernizing the site, notably the electrical network.

Ernest Mercier completed his education at the Ecole Superieure d'Electricite between 1905 and 1908, during which time he married Madeleine Tassin, the daughter of a republican Senator.

Ernest Mercier was later noticed by Albert Petsche, and left the public sector for private electrical enterprise.

When Louis Loucheur was named Minister for the Liberated Zones, Ernest Mercier accompanied him and dealt with the German factories that were dependent on the Military Control Board.

Ernest Mercier was most active in two sectors, electricity and petroleum which were at the time among the newest, and would soon boost the French economy of the 1920s.

Ernest Mercier extended the vertical integration of the company by constructing petroleum transport infrastructure and refineries at Gonfreville, near Le Havre and on the Etang de Berre, near Martigues.

The lack of success of his business, his involvement in the events of February 6,1934, which he described as the victory of the "fighting spirit", and the fall of the national union government of Gaston Doumergue all certainly drove Ernest Mercier to dissolve the Redressement Francais in 1935.

Ernest Mercier continued to be active in the domain of foreign policy.

Ernest Mercier escaped deportation only because he was hospitalised for blood poisoning on the day he was to be arrested.

Ernest Mercier continued to preside over the French branch of the International Chamber of Commerce and sat on the boards of several companies, while as an engineer he pursued research on electric turbines.