Jacques LEBEL
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Industrialist and employers' union leader.
Jacques Lebel, an industrialist born in 1881, sat on the Paris chamber of commerce and presided over the organised employers of the wholesale food trade, the one that fed the capital. He was fifty-four when he died. The carving signals an accidental death without saying which, something almost never read. A second name follows, that of a Lebel who died nearly sixty years later.
The story
“Mort accidentellement le 15 septembre 1935.” The stone of the industrialist Jacques Lebel gives the circumstance without saying which one: few epitaphs record that a death was accidental without explaining it.
Born in 1881, Jacques Lebel was an industrialist and a member of the Paris chamber of commerce — the body where the economic policy of the capital was settled. He chaired the Union of Wholesale Food Trades: the organised employers of a sector that fed Paris. He was fifty-four.
A second name follows on the stone — Claude Lebel, who died in 1994, nearly sixty years later. Two names, and only one that carries a circumstance.
The grave
An inscription of two lines, the first of which signals a circumstance rare on a gravestone: “Jacques LEBEL, mort accidentellement le 15 septembre 1935.” — died accidentally on 15 September 1935. The nature of the accident is not given. There follows “Claude LEBEL 1914-1994”, who died nearly sixty years later. Neither the industry, nor the chamber of commerce, nor the presidency of the Union of wholesale food trade associations.
On site, do not miss
The epitaph signals an accidental death without saying which: “Jacques LEBEL, mort accidentellement le 15 septembre 1935.” — died accidentally on 15 September 1935.
Visitors' questions
Where is Jacques Lebel's grave?
In Division 31, chemin de La Bédoyère, first row. The inscription is short but exact: “Jacques LEBEL, mort accidentellement le 15 septembre 1935. Claude LEBEL 1914-1994.” — killed in an accident on 15 September 1935.
Antoine Louis de BoissièreHow did he die?
“Accidentellement”, says the stone — accidentally, on 15 September 1935, at fifty-four. It does not say what the accident was: few epitaphs flag a death as accidental and then leave it there.
General TrelliardWhat was his profession?
An industrialist, a member of the Paris chamber of commerce and president of the Union des syndicats de l'alimentation en gros — the organised employers of the wholesale food trade that fed the capital.
Émile-Justin MenierWho was Claude Lebel?
A member of his family (1914-1994), buried with him and dead nearly sixty years later. The two names are the only ones on the stone, and only Jacques's carries a circumstance.
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