A toy manufacturer, Charles Rossignol reduced the whole Paris of the Belle Époque to miniature: carriages, trams, boats, aeroplanes, fire engines, by the million. Two patents made his fortune, tab-fastening instead of soldering and printing directly onto the metal. One of his toys makes a sharp click; nineteenth-century theatres used it to say a play was bad — the “cri-cri”, the cricket.
The story
Born at Neufchâteau on 14 January 1839, Charles Rossignol was an inventor before he was an industrialist: the sprung bed base is his, and so is a toy works that outlived him by seventy years.
But his trade was the toy: he made them by the million — automata, horse-drawn carriages, aeroplanes, boats, trams, railways, motor cars, fire engines, buses. Belle Époque Paris in miniature.
Two patents made his fortune: clip-fastening, which replaced soldering, and direct lithographic printing on metal, which did away with the smell of paint.
One of his musical toys makes a sharp click. Nineteenth-century theatres used it to signal that a play was bad: it was called the “cri-cri”, the cricket. The same object made its fortune elsewhere: the American paratroopers who landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944 recognised one another in the dark by a clicker of this kind, made, in their case, in Birmingham.
He died in Paris on 20 December 1889 and rests in Division 72, on Avenue Circulaire, in a chapel raised in 1892 by the architects Henri and Louis Parent.
The grave
An imposing chapel raised in 1892 by the architects Henri Parent (1819-1895) and Louis Parent (1854-1909). An anonymous marble bust is flanked there by two naked children, one of them weeping. The bronze door bears ribbons, arabesques and funeral wreaths, beneath torches in high relief. Around the bust, three words: “Patriotisme Travail Bienfaisance” — patriotism, work, charity. The inscription names him “Jacques Charles ROSSIGNOL, manufacturier” — manufacturer — gives his wife Marie née Strutz, of Hayange, and ends with a motto: “Le travail et le devoir avant tout ! C'était là sa règle, c'était là sa foi.” — work and duty above all! That was his rule, that was his faith.
On site, do not miss
The marble bust is flanked by two naked children, one of them weeping — for a toy manufacturer, the image is striking. Around it, three words: “Patriotisme Travail Bienfaisance” — patriotism, work, charity.
Visitors' questions
Where is Charles Rossignol's grave?
In Division 72, avenue Circulaire, first row: an imposing chapel by the architects Henri and Louis Parent, dated 1892, with a marble bust flanked by two naked children, one of them weeping — a striking image for a maker of toys.
Jean ReynaudWhat did Charles Rossignol make?
Toys, by the million: automata, carriages, aeroplanes, boats, trams, railways, motor cars, fire engines, buses. It is the Paris of the Belle Époque reproduced in tinplate, in children's bedrooms the world over.
Thierry CourtinWhat is Rossignol's cri-cri?
The click of one of his musical toys — a cricket clicker. Nineteenth-century theatre audiences used it to say a play was bad. The clicker the American paratroopers took to Normandy in 1944 was, for its part, a British model, made in Birmingham.
Daniel CordierWhat does the epitaph on his chapel say?
Three words around the bust — “Patriotisme Travail Bienfaisance”, patriotism, work, charity — and a motto: “Le travail et le devoir avant tout ! C'était là sa règle, c'était là sa foi.” — work and duty above all: that was his rule, that was his faith. The inscription names him Jacques Charles Rossignol.
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