François-Eugène was born in Arras on 24 July, 1775, son of a master baker.
His early years were characterised by petty theft, poverty and garrison life, and he was to frequent gamers, crooks and prisons…
Tired of this existence but having learned a great deal, he was in 1809 to offer his services to the police, vaunting his past experience in burglary. Against all expectations his proposal was accepted on condition that he spent some time in the la Force prison. He expressed his agreement and spent the time profitably studying the character and past of his cell mates.
On leaving prison, Vidocq was placed at the head of a Brigade de sûreté. He was to prove a zealous and wily policeman, even adopting various disguises so as to infiltrate criminal networks and rapidly achieving a high reputation amonst other policemen.
In 1827, he resigned from the police and moved to Saint-Mandé to open a paper and cardboard factory. Here, Vidocq the ex-con became Vidocq the saviour, providing rehab for other ex-cons. Unfortunately, the factory was a flop and Vidocq returned to the police with the July Revolution in 1830.
In 1836, his Brigade de sûreté having been disbanded, Vidocq opened a Private Detective Bureau for business and private customers; though this was to close in 1848.
After a visit to London (where he may have rallied to Napoleon III), he returned to Paris, possibly aiding Lamartine in putting down the coup of June 1848. He spent some further time in prison in the Conciergerie prison, his cover was that he had been arrested, but in fact he was there to spy on socialists arrested in the June of the previous year.
After the coup d'état he became an open supporter Napoleon III. Despite rumours that he died in poverty, other accounts note that his application for poor relief was turned down because the inspector discovered that the ex-policeman lived in an eight-room apartment with a fine collection of paintings. Vidocq's funeral in Saint-Mandé was supposedly attended only by other policemen come to confiscate his records and eleven women each claiming to possess a will making them his sole heir.
Read the remarkable review of Vidocq's memoirs in the London Review of Book by Graham Robb. LRB | Vol. 26 No. 6 dated 18 March 2004.
Author: Emmanuelle Papot with Peter Hicks, May 2007