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Celestin Hennion

Celestin Hennion (8 September 1862-14 March 1915) was Prefect of the Paris Police Prefecture from 30 March 1913 to 2 September 1914, succeeding Louis Lepine and preceding Emile Marie Laurent.

Biography[]

Celestin Hennion was born in Gommegnies, France in 1862, and he served in the French Army in Tunisia from 1880 to 1885 before joining the police force on his return to France. He engaged in intelligence work against organizations which sought to overthrow the French Third Republic, became a strong supporter of Alfred Dreyfus during the Dreyfus affair after investigating Georges Picquart's counter-evidence, thwarted Paul Deroulede's 1899 coup attempt, and was appointed Director of General Security by Georges Clemenceau in 1907. He suggested the creation of mobile police brigades, nicknamed the "Tiger Brigades" after "the Tiger" Clemenceau, supporting the modernization of the police force. The Tiger Brigades brought down the Bonnot Gang in 1912 and also uncovered the embezzlement of Russian bonds by several powerful Frenchmen, including Lepine, with Hennion forcing Lepine to retire lest an incriminating ledger be published and implicate Lepine and many others in the conspiracy. Hennion took over Lepine's position before ill health forced his resignation only a year later, and he died in 1915.

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