Maurice Raoul-Duval

Maurice Raoul-Duval
Maurice Raoul-Duval en 1898 (polo)
Born	(1866-04-27)27 April 1866 Le Pecq, France
Died	5 May 1916(1916-05-05) (aged 50) Verdun
Spouse	Hon. Frances Venables-Vernon ​ ​ (after 1910)​
Children	Sonia Raoul-Duval
Parent(s)	Fernand Raoul-Duval Henriette Dassier

Olympic medal record
Men's polo
Representing a Mixed team
	1900 Paris	Team competition

Maurice Raoul-Duval (27 April 1866 – 5 May 1916) was a French polo player who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics.^[1][2]

Early life

Raoul-Duval was born on 27 April 27, 1866 in Le Pecq. He was a son of Fernand Raoul-Duval (1833–1892), mining engineer, and Henriette Dassier (1840–1923). Together with his brothers, Réné and Charles, were among the early pioneers of polo in France, and helped to found the Paris Polo Club in 1892.^[3]

His paternal grandparents were Octavie Say (the daughter of the economist Jean-Baptiste Say) and Charles Raoul-Duval, a magistrate and senator, and his uncle was Edgar Raoul-Duval, the French magistrate and politician who was Representative of Seine-Inférieure.^[4] His maternal grandparents were Louise Labouchere and Auguste Dassier, founder of the Ador, Vernes & Dassier Bank in Paris.^[5][6]

Career

In 1900 he was part of the Bagatelle Polo Club de Paris team which won the bronze medal.^[7] He was also a member of the Compiègne Polo Club team which was eliminated in the first round of the same tournament. In 1905, he was considered "the best player on the Continent"^[3] and was also well known on English grounds and was in the winning team of the Rugby Autumn Tournament in 1903 and 1904.^[8]

Personal life

In 1910, he married Hon. Frances Lawrance Venables-Vernon (b. 1886), a daughter of George Venables-Vernon, 7th Baron Vernon and Frances Margaret Lawrance (a daughter of Francis C. Lawrance of New York City). After their marriage, they lived at the Château de Marolles.^[9] Before his death, they were the parents of:

• Sonia Raoul-Duval (1912–1997), who married Arnaud de Contades, Marquis de Contades (1907–1975), of the Château de Montgeoffroy. She later married the Marquis de la Rozière and lived in San Ángel, Mexico.^[10][11]

He was killed in action at Verdun during World War I.^[12] After his death, she married Lt. Jean de Kermaignant in 1918.^[13]

Descendants

Through his daughter Sonia, he was posthumously a grandfather of Arnold de Contades, Marquis de Contades (1933–2018), and Anne de Contades (b. 1936), who married Count Michel d'Ornano (the eldest son of Count Guillaume d'Ornano).^[14]

See also

• List of Olympians killed in World War I

References

1. "Maurice Raoul-Duval". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
2. "Maurice Raoul-Duval". Olympedia. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
3. "In the Shade at Ranelagh". The Bystander: An Illustrated Weekly, Devoted to Travel, Literature, Art, the Drama, Progress, Locomotion: 5. 1905. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
4. Edgard-Raoul Duval (1864), Cour impériale d'Angers. Discours prononcé par M. l'avocat général E. Raoul Duval à l'audience solennelle de rentrée du 3 novembre 1864, Angers: impr. de Lainé frères / France. Cour d'appel., p. 50
5. Annuaire de la noblesse de France et des maisons souveraines de l'Europe (in French). Champion. 1860. p. 242. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
6. Cassis, Youssef; Cottrell, Philip L. (20 August 2015). Private Banking in Europe: Rise, Retreat, and Resurgence. OUP Oxford. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-19-105461-7. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
7. McCrery, Nigel (19 October 2016). The Extinguished Flame: Olympians Killed in The Great War. Pen and Sword. p. 1838. ISBN 978-1-4738-7800-6. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
8. Laffaye, Horace A. (10 January 2014). Polo in Britain: A History. McFarland. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7864-8980-0. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
9. TIMES, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK (30 January 1910). "MISS VERNON TO MARRY.; Engagement of Lord Vernon's Sister to Raoul Duval Announced". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
10. Valynseele, Joseph (1971). Les Say et leurs alliances: l'étonnante aventure d'une famille cévenole (in French). l'auteur, 8, rue Cannebière. pp. 127, 139. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
11. The Royalty, Peerage and Aristocracy of the World. Annuaire de France. 1967. p. 226. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
12. "Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
13. Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 3, page 3999.
14. "Anne de Contades Prospective Bride". The New York Times. 1 August 1960. Retrieved 23 March 2023.

External links

• Maurice Raoul-Duval at Olympedia
• Maurice Raoul-Duval – Olympic profile