{{Infobox person | name = Hippolyte Laroche | image = Hippolyte_Laroche_Madagascar.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1848|01|26|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Lyon]], France | death_date = {{Death date and age|1914|09|14|1848|01|26|df=y}} | death_place = [[Le Mans]], Sarthe, France | other_names = | occupation = Colonial administrator, politician | known_for = Abolition of slavery in Madagascar }} '''Hippolyte Laroche''' (26 January 1848 - 14 September 1914) was a French naval officer, colonial administrator and politician. While Resident General of [[Madagascar]] he succeeded in abolishing slavery.

==Career==

Hippolyte Laroche was born on 26 January 1848 in [[Lyon]], France. His father was a colonel of the Engineers. Laroche attended Naval Academy and became a naval officer. He was then made prefect of [[Charente]], [[Algiers]], [[Loire (department)|Loire]] and [[Haute-Garonne]].{{sfn|Jolly|1960}}

Laroche was appointed Resident General in Madagascar, and arrived at [[Tananarive]] on 16 January 1896.{{sfn|Ranaivo|1979}} [[Paul Anthelme Bourde]] was appointed Secretary General of [[Madagascar]] in 1895.{{sfn|Voizard|1989}} Bourde left France for Madagascar in January 1896. He soon fell out with Laroche, who accused him of trying to usurp his position.{{sfn|Finch|2013|p=173}} In his short term of office, Laroche succeeded in passing a law that abolished slavery. He had the difficult task of keeping a balance between the French settlers and military and Queen [[Ranavalona III]]. He did not succeed since he had no control over the military, who pursued a scorched earth policy in suppressing an uprising of the local people. He left on 10 October 1896 when the government ended his mission.{{sfn|Ranaivo|1979}}

Laroche signed the ''Adresse à Dreyfus'' that appeared in ''L'Aurore'' in September 1899.{{sfn|Hippolyte Laroche et Martin Freystaetter}} On 19 February 1904 Laroche was an unsuccessful candidate for the Assembly in a by-election for the arrondissement of [[La Flèche]]. In the general elections the next year he ran again and won by a narrow margin. He ran again in 1910 and was reelected. He was a member of commissions on Foreign affairs and the colonies, posts and telegraphs and the military.{{sfn|Jolly|1960}}

Laroche died on 14 September 1914 in [[Le Mans]], Sarthe, France.{{sfn|Jolly|1960}}

==References== '''Citations''' {{Reflist |colwidth=30em}} '''Sources''' {{refbegin}} *{{cite book|last=Finch|first=Michael P.M.|title=A Progressive Occupation?: The Gallieni-Lyautey Method and Colonial Pacification in Tonkin and Madagascar, 1885–1900 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n9nk8eK0CRUC&pg=PA173|access-date=2014-02-03|date=2013-08-15|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-967457-2}} *{{cite web|ref={{harvid|Hippolyte Laroche et Martin Freystaetter}}|url=http://archives-zoliennes.fr/index.php?partie=2&souspartie=0&vari=1289 |title=Hippolyte Laroche et Martin Freystaetter|work=Le site des archives Zola|access-date=2014-02-18}} *{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche.asp?num_dept=4362|chapter=Hippolyte Laroche |last=Jolly|first=Jean|year=1960|title=Dictionnaire des parlementaires français de 1889 à 1940 |access-date=2014-02-18}} *{{cite book|last=Ranaivo|first=Flavien|title=Hommes et destins: dictionnaire biographique d'Outre-mer. Madagascar |chapter-url=http://euzet.genealogie.free.fr/jeanclaude/madagascarsuite2/madagascarsuite2.htm|access-date=2014-02-18 |year=1979|publisher=[[Académie des sciences d'outre-mer]]|chapter=Hippolyte Laroche}} *{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.medias19.org/docannexe/file/4423/outre_mer.pdf|last=Voizard|first=Pierre|chapter=Paul, Anthelme BOURDE (1851–1914)|title=Hommes et destines (Dictionnaire biographique d'Outre-Mer)|year=1989|access-date=2014-03-03|archive-date=2014-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221144137/http://www.medias19.org/docannexe/file/4423/outre_mer.pdf|url-status=dead}} {{refend}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Laroche, Hippolyte}} [[Category:1848 births]] [[Category:1914 deaths]] [[Category:19th-century French politicians]] [[Category:20th-century French politicians]]