page_title: François Barthélemy Arlès-Dufour
section_title: Silk merchant
hierarchical_section_title: François Barthélemy Arlès-Dufour / Silk merchant
caption_attribution_description: This photograph was taken with an iPhone 6Français&#160;: Quai François-Barthélemy-Arlès-Dufour.
context_page_description: François Barthélemy Arlès-Dufour was a French silk merchant and leading exponent of Saint-Simonianism.
  He was born to a poor family, had little formal education and began work in a shawl factory at the age of 16.
  Later he joined a silk company based in Liepzig, Germany, married into the owners' family and was placed in charge of its Lyon operations.
  Working first for his in-laws and then independently, he made a fortune in silk.
  Arlès-Dufour also became involved in banking, railways and the Suez canal project.
  He played an important role in the Lyon Chamber of Commerce, and as a member of the jury in various international expositions.
  He believed in free trade and in social institutions that would help the most disadvantaged social classes.
context_section_description: In 1816 Arlès made several long sales trips in Germany with a sample of fabrics and shawls.
  In 1817 he met Prosper Enfantin in Frankfurt, the future leader of Saint-Simonianism.
  Also that year he visited the silk trading house in Leipzig of Dufour frères, a family that had emigrated from France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
  François Arlès tried to teach himself better French, and also learned German and English and studied the new discipline of political economy.
  In Munich he met Gustave d’Eichtal, who would become banker of the Saint-Simonian movement.
  He read the works of Adam Smith, David Ricardo and John Stuart Mill.
  He became a firm supporter of the sovereignty of the people, and the 1819 Carlsbad Decrees confirmed him in his hostility to kings and priests.
  In 1820 he talked with Jean-Baptiste Say at the Conservatoire des arts et métiers in Paris.
  In 1821 Dufour frères offered him employment with their firm.
  In 1824 Arlès married Pauline Dufour, only daughter of one of the Dufour brothers.
  At the time of his marriage he joined his name to that of his wife to become "Arlès-Dufour".
  In 1825 he was placed in charge of the important Dufour freres branch in Lyon.
  This was the start of his prosperous career as a silk merchant.
  He visited England in 1826 and every year after.
  There he succeeded in business and also made valuable friendships.
  John Bowring, a follower of Jeremy Bentham, introduced utilitarianism to him.
  He became a friend of George Villiers, the future Lord Clarendon, and met George Richardson Porter, in charge of statistics at the Board of Trade. 
  Porter gave him facts that supported his belief in free trade.
  Bowring visited Lyon in 1832.
  Arlès-Dufour also established cordial relations with British political and business leaders such as John Bright and Richard Cobden.
  During the American recession that followed the Panic of 1837 Arlès-Dufour was almost ruined by customers in America defaulting on their debts to him.
  He left Lyon for London en route to New York.
  In London he received financial support from his friend and correspondent William Leaf and did not have to continue his journey.
  In partial recovery of his debt he received two properties at Kingston and Wilbur in New York State.
  He liquidated his company honorably. 
  with the help of his international correspondents and Lyon notables, and in 1839 created his own company, Arlès-Dufour.
  The company opened branches in Zürich, Saint-Étienne, Paris, Basel, Krefeld, Marseille, London and New York City.
  The new company had its headquarter in Milan.
  In 1851 the building holding its offices and warehouse in Milan was destroyed by fire.
  Arlès-Dufour was trapped in the rubble of the building for a while, but managed to escape with his wallet and account books.
  However, since some of the silks were not insured he suffered a second financial collapse, but was again able to rebuild his company with credit from his friends.
  In 1855 Arlès-Dufour  hired Natalis Rondot to manage his Paris branch.
  Rondot helped him make contact with the Scottish firm Jardine Matheson of Hong Kong, a leader in the Far East silk trade.
  He agreed not to open any silk exchange in the Far East, but to buy from Jardine, Matheson, who would transport it.
  Arlès-Dufour would then sell through his network in Europe.
  This verbal contract would be respected for a century.
  He was concerned by the financial downturn that followed the Panic of 1857, and retired from business in 1859.
  The company was passed to his two edest sons and his son in law.
  He retained a fortune of 2.8 million francs.
caption: Street sign in Lyon commemorating Arlès-Dufour
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