Lucien Bonaparte-Wyse

Lucien Napoléon Bonaparte-Wyse
Lucien Bonaparte-Wyse
Born	13 January 1845 Paris
Died	15 June 1909 Cap Brun, Cannes
Nationality	French
Occupation(s)	Engineer, Midshipman (French Navy)
Spouse	Mary Rose White (m. 1871, d. 1875)
Children	Napoléon Jérôme Bonaparte-Wyse (1874–1940) Spouse: Antoinette de Raoulx de Raousset-Boulbon (1881–1931) Children: One daughter and one son Marie Letizia Bonaparte-Wyse (1875–1959) Spouse: Rear Admiral Aristide Henry Nicolas Denis Bergasse du Petit-Thouars (1872–1932) Children: Four daughters
Parents	Captain Studholme John Hodgson (biological) (father) Laetitia Bonaparte-Wyse (daughter of Lucien Bonaparte) (mother)

Lucien Napoléon Bonaparte-Wyse (13 January 1845 – 15 June 1909), also known as Lucien Napoléon-Bonaparte Wyse, was a French engineer. He was instrumental in the decision to build the Panama Canal in Panama as a sea-level canal.

Life

Family background

He was born in Paris as the son of Laetitia Bonaparte-Wyse, daughter of Lucien Bonaparte and estranged wife of the Irish politician Sir Thomas Wyse; Lucien Napoléon Bonaparte-Wyse's real father was a British army officer, Captain Studholme John Hodgson.

Early career

He joined the French navy as a midshipman on the ship Amphion, based in Toulon. Commissioned by the French company Compagnie universelle du canal interocéanique de Panama he obtained a concession to build a canal from the Colombian government. He made two trips to Panama to study the project and the concluded it was feasible. The agreement, known as the "Wyse Concession" was valid 99 years and allowed the company to dig a canal and exploit it.

Later life

The Panama Scandal allowed Ferdinand de Lesseps to redeem the rights. After this Bonaparte-Wyse wrote his memoirs, intending to prove to investors that the project was viable. The United States would get the concession and build the canal.

Marriage and family

He married on 14 September 1871, in London, Mary Rose White (Port-au-Prince 1855 - Nice 1875) :

• Napoléon Jérôme Bonaparte-Wyse (1874-1940) married in 1904 Antoinette de Raoulx de Raousset-Boulbon (1881-1931). They had one daughter and one son.
• Marie Letizia Bonaparte-Wyse (1875-1959) married in 1895, in Toulon, Rear Admiral Aristide Henry Nicolas Denis Bergasse du Petit-Thouars (1872-1932). They had four daughters.

Death

He died at Cap Brun in Cannes on 15 June 1909, at the age of 64 years.

Publications

• Excursion en Tunisie, p. 520-527, Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, 1874, tome 7 (lire en ligne)
• Correspondance de Lucien Napoléon-Bonaparte Wyse du 29 décembre 1876, p. 315-319, Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, 1877, tome 13 (lire en ligne)
• Correspondance de Lucien Napoléon-Bonaparte Wyse du 5 avril 1877, p. 647-654, Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, 1877, tome 13 (lire en ligne)
• Lucien Napoléon-Bonaparte Wyse, Exploration de l'isthme américain en vue du percement d'un canal interocéanique, p. 573-580, Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, 1879, tome 17 (lire en ligne)
• Rapports sur les travaux de la Société de géographie, p. 26-27, Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, 1879, tome 17 (lire en ligne)
• Correspondance du 5 février 1880, p. 272-276, Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, 1880, tome 19 (lire en ligne)
• Bonaparte Wyse, Lucien Napoléon; Guillaumin, Georges (1904). Le rapt de Panama (PDF) (in French). Retrieved 31 August 2014.

References

Sources

• McCullough, David (1977). The path between the seas: the creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671244094.