Skip to content
VitrineRoyal Houses of Europe
Sign in

Marie Mélanie de Gaufridy de Dortan

1876–1937

Born
31 Aug 1876, Chateau d'Audour
Country of birth
France
Died
23 Oct 1937, Paris
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 · Chateau d'Audour

    Birth, Chateau d'Audour

  2. Child born: Roger Marie Vincent Philippe Lévêque de Vilmorin

    Birth, 7th arrondissement of Paris

  3. Died · Paris

    Death, Paris

What was it like?

The world around Chateau d'Audour, 1876: 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.

Marie was born the same year as Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Pau Casals, and Manuel de Falla.

Born the same year

  • Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

    Italian poet and editor, founder of the Futurist movement (1876-1944)

  • Pau Casals

    Spanish cellist, conductor and composer (1876–1973)

  • Manuel de Falla

    Spanish composer (1876–1946)

  • Konrad Adenauer

    German politician, Chancellor of West Germany (1949–1963), Zentrum and CDU

  • Jack London

    American author, journalist and social activist (1876–1916)

  • Pius XII

    pope of the Catholic Church from 1939 to 1958

Fashion
Around 1880–1880

Sunday workwear with a white cravat

A 7 November 1880 “tableau de Wenzel” shows four women gathering olives, including one wearing a neat work costume with a white cravat and a yellow fichu over a white headcloth. The source notes the outfit seemed “too coquettish” for work, explained by the fact it was Sunday.

Quimper workers kept festal clothes apart

In Quimper (Brittany), rural workers could keep their everyday work clothes separate from festival clothing, sometimes commissioned for weddings. This made clothing a visible marker of identity and social position.

Music

Large regional music competitions drew thousands

Musical societies frequently performed at regional competitions, such as one in 1891 in Aurillac that brought together over 1,000 performers to parade and compete.

Rural brass bands were popular musical associations

In the late 19th century, rural French brass bands often consisted of about 25 members, with many musicians starting as young as 8 or 9 years old.

Getting around

Poor conditions for train passengers

During the late 19th century, trains were often poorly lit, forcing passengers to bring portable candles to read, and heating was only provided in first-class carriages using hot water bottles.

Walking was a common mode of travel

Ordinary people frequently traveled long distances on foot, with a common unit of measurement being the league, which roughly corresponded to one hour of walking.

Daily life

Protective headgear for children

Children often wore protective headgear called a bourrelet, a thick tress of straw designed to shield them from bumps and falls.

Strict posture training devices

To encourage upright posture, children were sometimes forced to wear heavy wooden armatures shaped like a cross tied to their backs.

Food
Around 1885–1885

Worker food budget in Paris, 1885

In Paris around 1885, a working-class woman spent 1.20 francs per day on food, including 0.50 francs for a meal of boiled beef with vegetables and broth, 0.20 francs for wine, 0.15 francs for bread, and 0.15 francs for cheese.

Around 1850–1874

Daily Meals Based on Soup and Bread

Ordinary families typically relied on a single daily meal, often a soup (minestra) made of vegetables, potatoes, lard, or salted pork, frequently served with bread. For many, meat was an exceptional treat reserved for Sundays, holidays, or celebrations like weddings.

Prices and wages
Around 1862–1874

High wages in Sardinia sector

Building sector workers in Sardinia earned nominal wages that were considered high compared to other regions of Italy following national unification.

Around 1885–1885

Clothing costs for workers

A female worker in Paris around 1885 could purchase basic clothing items such as a shirt for 1.55 francs, a handkerchief for 0.20 francs, trousers for 1.75 francs, or a pair of stockings for 0.55 francs.

Work

Memorable details of mining and daily diet

Lamp trimmers in mines were often young women responsible for maintaining and distributing lamps, which could contain over one hundred individual parts. At home, working-class families frequently relied on dried chestnuts boiled for four hours as a cheap, nutritious meal staple.

The grueling routine of Parisian water carriers

A Parisian water carrier transported water in two 20-liter buckets, making 35 to 40 trips daily while climbing up to the top floors of houses. This physically demanding work was often supplemented by wood sawing or moving furniture to earn extra income.

News and letters

Railways transformed mail transport in France

By the late 19th century, mail transport in France was dominated by railways, with special ambulatory sorting offices on trains replacing horse-drawn postal coaches.

Rapid mail delivery across Paris

Within Paris, mail delivery was highly organized with multiple daily rounds, aiming to deliver a letter from one end of the city to the other in an average of four hours.

During their lifetime

  1. 1884

    Standardized time zones adopted globally

    In 1884, global standardized time zones were introduced, largely driven by the need to synchronize railway schedules and public life in the industrialized German Empire.

  2. 1895

    Industrial workers equaled agricultural workers

    By the mid-1890s, the number of industrial workers in the German Empire grew to match those in agriculture, marking a major demographic shift toward urbanization and factory labor.

  3. 1900

    Paris Metro opens in 1900

    The first Paris metro line opened on July 14, 1900, allowing travel across the city in half an hour for 20 to 25 centimes.

  4. 1921

    Public radio broadcasting starts in 1921

    Public radio broadcasting officially began in France in 1921, with regular programs transmitted from an antenna atop the Eiffel Tower.

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.