Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Daniel Legrand
Summary
Daniel Legrand (1783 – 16 March 1859) was a Swiss industrialist and philanthropist of the Reformed Church who spent most of his life in Alsace, France. He campaigned for laws that would improve the condition of child workers, and of industrial workers in general. His ideas contributed to the later development of international labor law.
Daniel Legrand was born at Basel on 28 November 1783.
His father was Johann Lukas Legrand (or Jean-Luc Legrand, 1755–1836), president of Directory of the Helvetic Republic.
Daniel Legrand was given a sound, moral education based on 18th century philosophical principles.
He spent two years at the Reichenau institute in Graubünden, then studied mathematics at Neuchâtel before returning to Basel to help his father in his ribbon factory. The factory was run on paternalist lines. The workers were lodged in the factory. The owner presided with his family at meals, and he and his son directed the education of the children.
After being forced out of office, his father moved to Alsace, France and founded a ribbon factory.
Daniel helped with the business.
In 1812 Daniel Legrand visited Ban de la Roche, where he met Jean-Frédéric Oberlin (1740–1826).
Oberlin has been called the "true precursor of social Christianity in France."
Legrand came under the spell of the pastor, and moved with his ribbon factory to nearby Fouday, where he lived for the rest of his life. He became known for his frank piety and openness to members of different Christian sects.
According to the Reverend Frederick Monod,
Among men who have had the privilege of knowing him, who does not preserve a lasting remembrance of that animated face, in which were depicted an affectionate kindness, an expansive charity, a Christian peace and joy—the work of the Holy Spirit—that nothing in the world seemed able to disturb?
Legrand thought that a Christian who owned property should give half of his income to the service of God and the poor. He provided good conditions to his workers, including housing and schools.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.