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Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier

1824–1890

Born
31 Jul 1824, Neuilly-sur-Seine
Country of birth
France
Died
4 Feb 1890, Sanlúcar de Barrameda
facts
7
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Neuilly-sur-Seine

    Birth, Neuilly-sur-Seine

  2. Child born: Princess María Isabel of Orléans

    Birth, Reales Alcázares

  3. Child born: Mercedes of Orléans

    Birth, Madrid

  4. Child born: Infante Antonio, Duke of Galliera

    Birth, Seville

  5. Died · Sanlúcar de Barrameda

    Death, Sanlúcar de Barrameda

What was it like?

The world around Neuilly-sur-Seine, 1824: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Prince was born around the same time as Louis Pasteur, Charles Baudelaire, and César Franck.

Born around the same time

  • Louis Pasteur

    1822 · French chemist and microbiologist (1822-1895)

  • Charles Baudelaire

    1821 · French poet and critic (1821–1867)

  • César Franck

    1822 · Belgian-French composer and organist (1822–1890)

  • Lola Montez

    1821 · Irish dancer and actress (1821–1861)

  • Giovanni Bottesini

    1821 · Italian composer, conductor, and double bass player

  • Fyodor Dostoyevsky

    1821 · Russian novelist (1821–1881)

Fashion

Political symbols adorned daily attire

Public display of political allegiance became mandatory or prudent through small, inexpensive accessories like the red, white, and blue tricolor cockade. True republicans also wore civic-themed jewelry featuring revolutionary emblems like phrygian caps, sometimes even fashioned into shapes resembling miniature guillotines.

Poverty dictated clothing recycling and repair

Common people relied heavily on second-hand markets and repairing worn garments, as purchasing a complete new outfit was an exceptional financial event. Because laundry was infrequent and clothing was limited, many rural workers appeared in dull, monochromatic outfits, often going barefoot during the warm season.

Music

Parisian singing societies and long gatherings

In Paris, goguettes—popular singing societies—were central to daily life, with approximately twenty songs typically sung during meetings that lasted four to five hours.

Around 1830–1839

Parisian street musicians and singers

In the early 1830s, Paris had 106 barrel organ players and 135 singers who performed in the streets as a form of everyday public entertainment.

Getting around

Mountain sledding and early rapid communication

Travelers crossed the steep Mont-Cenis pass between France and Italy on muleback, while adventurous passengers slid down snowy slopes in sleds known as ramasse in only fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, the Chappe semaphore telegraph allowed messages to travel across France in hours instead of days, though people still relied on traditional transport.

Slow and expensive travel across France

Between 1800 and 1824, land travel was slow and expensive; a journey across France could take 20 to 30 days on foot or by slow carriage. Transporting a ton of goods from Paris to Marseille cost around 250 francs, roughly the annual wage of an unskilled laborer.

Daily life

The daily struggle for water

Because water was not piped into most homes, families relied on water carriers to bring it from rivers or public fountains, or they had to fetch it themselves from wells. Drinking water was often not potable, so people frequently filtered rainwater or bought bottled mineral water if they were wealthy.

Around 1825–1849

Cramped and dark living conditions

Ordinary urban homes were often cramped and poorly ventilated, with many workers living in simple apartments of one or two rooms, while some lived in communal boarding houses where rooms were shared dormitory-style. Interior spaces were frequently dark and smoky, as homes relied on open hearths for both heating and cooking, and floors were often made of packed earth rather than wood.

Food
Around 1804–1814

Bread as the Daily Staple

Bread was the essential staple for all social classes, often eaten as soup or with lard, onions, and cheese. It was baked in various qualities, with some large loaves weighing up to twelve pounds.

Around 1804–1814

Coffee and Its Expensive Substitutes

Coffee became a widely popular staple despite being expensive, with prices soaring during the Continental Blockade to five francs per pound. Due to this scarcity, people attempted to create local substitutes using roasted acorns, peas, or carrots.

Prices and wages
Around 1804–1814

Average Daily Wages for Workers

During the First Empire, a typical worker earned an average daily wage of 2 francs, while specialized blacksmiths earned 5 francs and masons earned between 1 and 1.50 francs.

Around 1830–1849

Cost of bread and rent around 1830

Around 1830 in Paris, a large loaf of bread cost approximately 20 to 24 sous (1 to 1.20 francs), and a modest apartment could be rented for 60 to 150 francs per year.

Work

Memorable facts of Parisian labor life

A Paris water carrier typically made 35 to 40 trips daily, delivering 20-liter buckets suspended from a wooden shoulder yoke, and could earn 5 to 6 francs for a 4 to 5-hour moving job. Families often relied on cheap, filling meals like boiled dried chestnuts, which cost 0f60 per kilogram.

Around 1825–1849

A 15-hour workday in factories

In many French manufacturing sectors, workers endured a typical workday of 15 hours, which included 13 hours of effective labor.

News and letters
Around 1829–1829

Circuitous postal routes caused delays

A deputy complained in 1829 that letters sent between towns in the same district sometimes traveled long, circuitous routes instead of direct ones, making them as slow as international mail.

Around 1829–1829

Inefficient Postal Routing Routes

Postal inefficiencies meant letters could take circuitous routes, with one example showing a letter traveling thirty-seven leagues to reach a district office just six leagues away.

During their lifetime

  1. 1832

    1832 Cholera epidemic

    A major cholera epidemic struck France in 1832, causing approximately 103,000 deaths.

  2. 1835

    Start of Mendizábal's ecclesiastical confiscations, 1835

    In 1835, the ecclesiastical confiscation, known as the desamortización, was initiated by Juan Álvarez Mendizábal to sell religious assets and pay off public debt.

  3. 1848

    Inauguration of the first railway, 1848

    The first railway line in peninsular Spain, connecting Barcelona and Mataró, was inaugurated in 1848.

  4. 1848

    Abolition of slavery in 1848

    The 1848 decree abolishing slavery throughout French colonies fundamentally changed the lives of enslaved people.

  5. 1853

    1853: Mass emigration to Latin America starts

    From 1853 to 1882, 325,000 Galicians emigrated, marking a period of intense, large-scale migration to Latin American countries like Cuba and Brazil.

  6. 1855

    1855: Major Railway Expansion Law enacted

    The 1855 General Railway Act spurred massive construction, with 460 km built annually from 1856 to 1866, connecting the country.

Family

Parents

Spouses

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.