Quick Facts
Biography
Louis Joseph Lahure (29 November 1767 in Mons – 24 October 1853 in Wavrechain-sous-Faulx) was a general from the Southern Netherlands in the service of the First French Republic and First French Empire.
Early life
Louis Joseph Lahure was born on November 29, 1767 in Mons in the Austrian Netherlands. He was the son of Nicolas Lahure and Marie-Thérèse du Buisson. He had a brother, Germain Lahure.
He studied at the Old University of Leuven.
Career
Lahure served in the Brabant Revolution in 1787. He moved to Lille in France in 1790. He served in the Army of the North under General Nicolas Luckner. He served in the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse.
He became a general. Occupying Holland in January 1795, the French continental army learned that the Dutch navy had been frozen into the ice near Texel Island. Lahure and 128 men simply rode up to it and demanded surrender. No shots were fired and the Dutch fleet was captured.
Lahure became a naturalised French citizen. He was made a Grand Officier of the Legion of Honour and the Order of Leopold. He was also made a Knight of the Order of Saint Louis.
Personal life
He married Anne de Warenghien de Flory in 1800. They had seven children. They resided at the Château de Wavrechain-sous-Faulx in Wavrechain-sous-Faulx, northern France.
Death
He died on October 24, 1853 in his chateau in Wavrechain-sous-Faulx.
Legacy
His name is inscribed on the Arc de triomphe in Paris.
His grandson published his memoirs in 1895, entitled Souvenirs de la vie militaire du lieutenant-général baron L.-J. Lahure, 1787-1815, publiés par son petit fils le baron P. Lahure, avec une introduction par M. Paul Duplan.