Biography of Debry, Jean - Archontology
Debry, Jean

Jean-Antoine-Joseph de Bry, dit Debry

b. 25 Nov 1760, Vervins, Aisne
d. 6 Jan 1834, Paris

Title: Président de la Convention nationale (President of the National Convention)
Term: 21 Mar 1793 - 4 Apr 1793
Chronology: 21 Mar 1793, elected, session of the Convention, Salle du Manège, Paris [1]
22 Mar 1793, assumed the chair, session of the Convention, Salle du Manège, Paris [2]
4 Apr 1793, ceased to exercise the functions of office upon the election of a successor [3][4]
Names/titles: Surname also spelled: de Brye, De Bry; chevalier de Bry, chevalier de l'Empire [from 27 Jul 1808]; baron de Bry, baron de l'Empire [from 3 May 1809]
Biography:
Son of a textile merchant; was named advocate in the Parlement of Paris (1784); appointed president of the royal law courts in Vervins (1786); administrator of the département of Aisne (1790); elected (8 Sep 1791) as a representative of Aisne to the Assemblée nationale (National Assembly) (1791-1792); proved himself an ardent revolutionary; was appointed a member of the Commission extraordinaire des Douze (Extraordinary Commission of Twelve) (18 Jun 1792 - 21 Sep 1792); proposed the creation of the corps of 1,200 tyrannicides to overthrow the royal regimes at war with France; was elected (4 Sep 1792) to the Convention nationale (National Convention) (1792-1795) as a deputy for Aisne; voted for the death sentence in the trial of King Louis XVI; elected a member of the Comité de sûreté générale (Committee of General Security) (22 Jan 1793 - 16 Jun 1793); President of the National Convention (21 Mar 1793 - 4 Apr 1793); elected (7 Apr 1793) to the Comité de salut public (Committee of Public Safety), but declined election for health reasons; protested against the proscription of the Girondins; served as a member of the Committee of Public Safety (3 Jul 1795 - 4 Nov 1795); entered the Conseil des Cinq-Cents (Council of Five Hundred) as a former member of the National Convention and served from 1795 to 1799; elected (13 Apr 1797) a deputy from the département of Aisne to the Council of Five Hundred; served as President of the Council of Five Hundred (21 Dec 1796 - 20 Jan 1797, 20 May 1799 - 19 Jun 1799); represented France at the Congress of Rastadt and survived the assassination of the French diplomats (28 Apr 1799); supported Napoléon Bonaparte and the coup of 18 Brumaire, Year VIII (9 Nov 1799 - 10 Nov 1799); entered the Tribunat (25 Dec 1799); served as prefect of Doubs (1800-1814) and Bas-Rhin (1815); created chevalier de l'Empire (27 Jul 1808) and baron (3 May 1809); proscribed as a regicide (1816) and lived in the Kingdom of the Netherlands; returned to France in 1830.
Biographical sources: Dictionnaire des Conventionnels, 182-183; Dictionnaire des parlementaires français 1789-1889, 2:283-284.
Elections:

Candidate Votes (21 Mar 1793)
Jean-Antoine-Joseph de Bry, dit Debry 278
Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, dit Guyton-Morveau 101
voters/absolute majority 389/195
Source of electoral results: Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 59:691.

[1] Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 60:420.
[2] Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 60:429.
[3] Archives parlementaires - Série 1, 61:316; Procès-verbal de la Convention nationale, 9:73.
[4] Apparently for health resons, Debry did not preside at the sessions of 2 Apr 1793, 3 Apr 1793 and 4 Apr 1793. Jean-Jacques Bréard chaired the sessions of 2 Apr 1793, 3 Apr 1793 and 4 Apr 1793 (evening); Jean-Baptiste Treilhard presided the session of 4 Apr 1794 (morning).
Image: portrait by Jean Duplessis-Bertaux (1798/1799).