Augustin-Joseph de Mailly

Who was Augustin-Joseph de Mailly?

Augustin-Joseph de Mailly was a French general, governor and nobleman.

Augustin-Joseph de Mailly was marquis d'Haucourt and baron of Saint-Amand. In January 1744 he inherited the title of count of Mailly following the death of his cousin Louis de Mailly. At first a musketeer, he served in the gendarmerie before rising rapidly through the ranks – brigadier on 20 February 1743, maréchal de camp on 1 May 1745, lieutenant-général on 10 May 1748, inspector general of cavalry and dragoons on 21 May 1749, and finally director-general of camps and armies. In disgrace, he was distanced from the court and therefore remained a lieutenant-Général for a very long time, before becoming commander in chief in Roussillon, where he was the originator of great building works and the renewal of the university and played a large rôle in Catalan Freemasonry. Made a chevalier du Saint-Esprit on 26 May 1776, he was made marshal of France on 13 June 1783 and due to his age was able to be governor of Abbeville, sénéchal and Grand bailli of Ponthieu not far from his lands and château. However, this Mailly, who fought in many battles of the wars of Louis XV, received from Louis XVI, in 1790, command of one of the four armies decreed by the National Assembly. This was a difficult task and he resigned on 22 June, when he learned of the king's flight to Varennes. On 10 August 1792, despite his old age, he fought on the side of the threatened French monarchy. Escaping the carnage that followed the capture of the palais des Tuileries and the September massacres, he was arrested in his château, then guillotined in 1794 at Arras, aged 87 – on the scaffold he cried "I remain faithful to my king, as my ancestors have always been".