Marcel SEMBAT
Born at Bonnières sur Seine on 19th October 1862
He was the son of Louis Adolphe SEMBAT, post master in Bonnières and Marie-Joséphine BOUCHER, daughter of the Justice of Peace’s clerk of Bonnières.

He was a thorough humanist and a first-class leader of his time.

He was a thorough humanist and a first-class leader of his time.
A man of many parts :
- a publicist,
- a barrister,
- a businessman
- a politician. As an M.P. he stood for the Grandes Carrières de Montmartre from 1893 until his death. He was a friend of Jaurès and Maurice BERTAUX.
- Minister of Public Works from 1914 to 1916 in the so-called ‘Sacred Union’ Government.

A freemason, member of the Order of the Grand Orient de France, well-known to have backed freemasonry disengaged from politics. Marcel SEMBAT was one of those intellectuals who refused to be spineless in office. He committed himself permanently with faith and energy in the city life.

A great amateur of art, he promoted the Autumn Art Exhibition. Many avant-garde artists of the time were indebted to Marcel SEMBAT for the moral and economic support that enabled them to pursue their activity. Among them Henri MATISSE, Maximilien LUCE, André METTHEY.

He died in Chamonix 4th September 1922.