Jurien de la Gravière was born at Brest on 19 November, 1812. He entered the army in 1828, and distinguished himself at a very young age through his talents. Appointed Capitaine de Frégate in 1841, he then carried out a three-year campaign in the Far East (1847-1850). He was then promoted to Capitaine de vaisseau in 1850 and Bruat's Chief of Staff of in the Crimea. He commanded the army at the landing at Kertch and Kinburn. He was made Contre-Amiral in 1855, commanding a squadron division of the Mediterranean in 1857, and directing operations in the Adriatic during the Italian War (blockade of Venice). La Gravière was made Commander of the naval division in Mexico in 1861, and Vice-Admiral in 1862. As joint Commander he directed the landing at Veracruz, and he signed the Soledad Convention on the 19 February that Napoleon III refused to ratify. He also organised the attack at Tampico in November. Jurien was made an Emperor's ADC in 1864, and then elected to the Académie des sciences in 1866. He then became Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean squadron in 1868, and intervened in Nice in 1870 to suppress the trouble stirred by the separatist party. Later on he became a writer and historian, as well as naval military theorist. He wrote many works, and was admitted into the Académie Française in 1888. He died in Paris on 5 March 1892.
Source: Dictionnaire du Second Empire, p. 684, Paris: Fayard, 1995, ed. PH and AM
Oct. 2011