1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Burdeau, Auguste Laurent

BURDEAU, AUGUSTE LAURENT (1851–1894), French politician, was the son of a labourer at Lyons. Forced from childhood to earn his own living, he was enabled to secure an education by bursarships at the Lycée at Lyons and at the Lycée Louis Le Grand in Paris. In 1870 he was at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, but enlisted in the army, and was wounded and made prisoner in 1871. In 1874 he became professor of philosophy, and translated several works of Herbert Spencer and of Schopenhauer into French. His extraordinary aptitude for work secured for him the position of chef de cabinet under Paul Bert, the minister of education, in 1881. In 1885 he was elected deputy for the department of the Rhone, and distinguished himself in financial questions. He was several times minister, and became minister of finance in the cabinet of Casimir-Périer (from the 3rd of November 1893 to the 22nd of May 1894). On the 5th of July 1894 he was elected president of the chamber of deputies. He died on the 12th of December 1894, worn out with overwork.