Henri Lucien Dubois

Henri in the 1890s

### Residence(s)

Various, including:* Appartement de Dubois, Paris, French Third Republic (Primary Residence)
* Château de Dubois, Bordeaux, French Third Republic (Countryside Estate)

## Family information

### Immediate

* Juliette Elise Dubois (wife)
* Marie Josephine Dubois (eldest daughter)
* George Henri Dubois (father) †
* Eléonore Dubois (mother)

### Extended

* Nicholas Augustus von Delanoringen (son-in-law)
* Roger William von Delanoringen (grandson)
* Hamilton Lee von Delanoringen (grandson)
* Justin Henry von Delanoringen (grandson)
* Ava Elisabeth von Delanoringen (granddaughter)

## Affiliation

### Loyalty

* Dubois family

**Henri Lucien Dubois** (b. 16 May 1843) is a French politician, winemaker, and a member of the prominent Dubois family. Born as the eldest son of George Henri Dubois a winemaker and local official and his wife Eléonore Dubois in a middle-class family, Henri enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle and received a decent education in his home city of Bordeaux. His education and comfortable lifestyle, however, were quickly interrupted by his father's early death when he was fourteen years old, forcing him to work many jobs and guilds. He spent much of his free time writing and reading and became largely knowledgeable about the contemporary politics of his time. He spent much of his time writing and reading and eventually he became a lawyer (and later) a politician in the Chamber of Deputies becoming mildly influential in French politics. He later stepped down from politics and became a published author where he wrote about politics, law, and other topics such as the infamous Dreyfus affair in 1894. Strong and assertive, but prudent in his own right, he had a diverse but decent career that spanned politics, law, and literature that embodied the spirit of the French Third Republic.

Born in the city of Bordeaux, in the Kingdom of France as the eldest child (and son) of George Henri Dubois a winemaker and local county official and his wife Eléonore Dubois a devout Catholic. He received a comfortable lifestyle and a decent education in his home city through his parent's professions. However, his comfort was interrupted by his father's early death when he was just fourteen years old which forced him to support his family by working in many jobs and learning physical labour skills in many guilds. He spent much of his free time supporting his younger siblings and reading in the local library and learning new languages through the usage of merchants that came through Bordeaux. He showed an early interest in politics, law, and history especially during the turbulent and rather unstable tenure of the Second French Empire. Despite being largely self-taught, he was accepted into the renowned University of Paris upon coming of age and majored in law and politics hoping to become a lawyer, jurist, or something similar. He was successfully called to the bar in 1868 at the young age of twenty-five, where he became one of the youngest (but inexperienced) lawyers in France. During his tenure as a lawyer, during the reign of the Second French Empire he formed close connections with high-class individuals in the Empire through his law profession, often defending them over minor disputes in the French courts allowing him to advance his connections and status in French High Society. His law profession was successful; however, it was interrupted by the destructive Franco-Prussian War in 1870 where he was forced to flee Paris with his wife and newly born infant daughter Marie Josephine Dubois where he fled to his home city of Bordeaux. He returned to Paris in late 1871, noticing the degrading conditions of the city. Henri became a political writer for the newly formed French government, later running for office in the newly created French Third Republic and was elected democratically in the Chambers of Deputies (the lower house of the French Republic). Like many of his contemporaries of his time, he opposed the German Empire's annexed territory of Alsace-Moselle, opposed large-scale colonisation, and supported workers' rights and unionisation, but was considered politically to be a moderate.

Earlier in the Spring of 1868, after passing the bar at the young age of twenty-five and during a visit to one of them any coffeehouses in the city of Paris he met Juliette Elise Chalont who was a distant family member from the prestigious House of Chalont, a noble and wealthy French family that had a history dating back to the earlier reign of the Ancien Régime. Henri attracted Juliette with his wit, charm, and intellectual capabilities along with his handsome appearance and was able to successfully court her. He took her out to various restaurants, balls, and indulged in boating which was a shared favourite pastime of theirs. They also shared a bond of literature, art, science music, politics, and especially hunting which became another one of their favourite pastimes. His courtship of Juliette also helped him rise in French High Society and contributed to his law firm's success. The two became fond of each other, with Henri and Juliette writing exquisite love letters to each other over the course of their companionship. His relationship was advanced when he successfully defended her father in the French legal courts against a lawsuit regarding wedlock children, which he (albeit against his wishes) won. As a result, he became largely trusted by the Chalont family and by the Summer of 1867-1868 he was able to ask Juliette's father for her daughter's hand in marriage, which he accepted. The two got married at his personal winery estate that he inherited from his uncle the Château de Dubois, in his home city of Bordeaux which was attended by Henri's younger siblings and the entire Chalont family. Juliette was criticised for not marrying a richer suitor or a man of higher status, but rebuked the criticism directed towards her by asserting that she married for companionship and not specifically for wealth. The two went on a honeymoon to the city of Nice, located at the heart of the French Riveria. With his marriage to Juliette, he became sealed within French High Society, which also ultimately advanced his career in law and politics. Later in the summer of 1870, Juliette gave birth to their first daughter named Marie Josephine Dubois and despite the child being a girl, Henri and his wife adored the child, and she was referred to by her father as "notre premier enfant" (lit. our first child). Sadly, however, soon after the birth of their first daughter the couple were forced to flee Paris which was being rapidly advanced on by the forces of the North German Confederation to the city of Bordeaux where they stayed safely for the duration of the war.

In the following years, after 1870 Henri became a simpler man. He and his wife refused to hire a governess and instead raised their only daughter Marie Josephine Dubois by themselves and their own intuition, ultimately giving Marie a happy childhood. He also learned art in his free time and became an adept artist, painting exquisite paintings that represented the virtues and the many vices of the French Third Republic with some of his artwork being inherently political in nature. Due to his diverse career in law, politics, and art, he was able to afford exquisite education for his daughter Marie and was able to successfully manage his own finances. He divided his time between his apartment in the city of Paris and his estate in his home city of usually spending the entire year (except the summer) in the city of Paris. He supported his oldest daughter Marie's passion in dancing and paid for her dancing lessons and was overjoyed when she was finally accepted into the L’Étoile de Paris in the late 1880s. In early 1890, when Marie met Nicholas Augustus von Delanoringen the heir of the wealthy and prominent Delanoringen family and began to develop feelings for him, Henri was originally sceptical of Nicholas's intentions due to his youthful age and lack of experience in professional work. However, upon meeting him in person his concerns were lifted and was impressed by his formality, mannerisms, and intellectual reminding him of himself when he was a young lawyer in France. Henri was warm to Nicholas and treated him like a son that he never had, unlike Nicholas's own father Boris von Delanoringen who treated Nicholas with coldness. Henri eventually allowed Nicholas to marry his daughter and the two got married in Schloss Delanoringen, Graz, Austria-Hungary which he and his wife Juliette attended. Henri was also able to secure a friendship between him and Edward von Delanoringen while in Graz, with Edward enjoying Henri's personality compared to his own son Boris. Henri and Juliette later returned to Paris where they lived a simpler life, with Henri often painting and sailing to spend his free time and Juliette often assisting him in his tasks and vice-versa. Henri and Juliette were overjoyed when their first grandson Roger William von Delanoringen was born, and their daughter Marie gave birth without complications. Henri and Juliette once again travelled to Austria to see their first grandson, where they were received warmly by the Delanoringen family. They were also overjoyed when their second grandson Hamilton Lee von Delanoringen, and their third grandson Justin Henry von Delanoringen, and first granddaughter Ava Elisabeth von Delanoringen were born. His daughter Marie wanted her children to have a close relationship with both their maternal and paternal grandparents, which her husband Nicholas agreed and constant trips and visits to France, along with the four grandchildren spending many summers at their maternal grandparent's house, helped them cement a relationship with their maternal family along with fluency in the French language.