Philippe Henri, Marquis de Ségur (20 January 1724 – 3 October 1801) was a French military officer who was Marshal of France and Secretary of State for War under King Louis XV and later King Louis XVI. He was a grandson of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans,
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Biography
Born in Paris, son of Henri François, Comte de Ségur and his wife Philippe Angélique de Froissy, Philippe Henri was appointed to the command of an infantry regiment at eighteen, and served under his father in Italy and Bohemia. He was wounded at Roucoux in Flanders in October 1746, and lost an arm at Lauffeld in 1747. In 1748 he succeeded his father as lieutenant-general of Champagne and Brie; he also received in 1753 the governorship of the county of Foix.
During the Seven Years' War he fought at Hastenbeck (1757), Krefeld (1758) and Minden (1759). In 1760 he was taken prisoner at Kloster Kampen.
The ability which he showed in the government of Franche-Comté in 1775 led in 1780 to his appointment as Minister for War under Jacques Necker. He created in 1783 the permanent general staff, and made admirable regulations with regard to barracks and military hospitals; and though he was officially responsible for the reactionary decree requiring four quarterings of nobility as a condition for the appointment of officers, the scheme is said not to have originated with him and to have been adopted under protest. On 13 June 1783 he became a marshal of France. He resigned from the ministry of war in 1787.
During the Reign of Terror he was imprisoned in La Force, and after his release was reduced to considerable straits until in 1800 he received an annual pension of 6,000 francs from Napoléon Bonaparte. He died in Paris the next year.
Family
Philippe Henri de Ségur married on 3 February 1749 in Paris Louise-Anne-Madeleine de Vernon (1729–1778), daughter of Alexandre de Vernon (c. 1654–1729) and Anne Duvivier. They had two sons:
Louis Philippe, Comte de Ségur
Joseph-Alexandre Pierre, Vicomte de Ségur
Both sons, Louis Philippe and Joseph Alexandre Pierre, were born at the family's hôtel particulier in Paris, the Hôtel de Ségur at 9 Rue Saint-Florentin.
Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval
Joseph-Alexandre Pierre de Ségur was actually the son of Philippe Henri de Ségur's best friend Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval de Brunstatt, usually just referred to as Baron de Besenval (the suffix Brunstatt refers to the former barony).
The fact that the Baron de Besenval was the father of the second son was no secret within the family. After the death of his best friend and military comrade Pierre Victor, Baron de Besenval, in 1791, Philippe Henri de Ségur inherited the usufruct of the Hôtel de Besenval.
Titles and decorations
Knight of the Holy Spirit effective 7 June 1767.