André Bontemps
Item
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Title
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André Bontemps
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Date
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1888-1969
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birthPlace
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Château-Porcien
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deathPlace
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La Seyne-sur-mer
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Description
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Biographical elements:
7 October 1888: Birth of Georges André Bontemp in Château-Porcien, son of Jean Baptiste Achille Bontemps and Amélie Fournier.
10 April 1917 : Mariage in Paris 15th arrondissement with Berthe Thérèse Dessailly, born in Paris 17th arrondissement on 29 January 1893, daughter of Joseph Louis Dessailly et de Mathilde Binkert.
André and Berthe had two children: Jean born in 1918 and Jacqueline born in 1922.
Career:
First wheelwright like his father in Château-Porcien, André Bontemps enlisted in the 11th artillery regiment as gunner on February 27, 1907 at the age of nineteen. In 1913, he entered the Ecole d’administration de Vincennes. During the First World War, he was not a fighter, but a second lieutenant in the maintenance service. Three albums kept at the Service Historique de la Défense (SHD) of the Château de Vincennes attest to his early passion for photography, which was combined with a concern for testimony and passing on history.
Between 1921 and 1925, he was assigned to the Occupation Division in Tunisia. From 1927 to 1928, he took evening classes at Vincennes and completed a law degree. He became a military justice officer on December 4, 1928. He worked at the military court of Constantine as a deputy army judge. He was then appointed to Tianjin Military Court where he worked from 1931 to 1935. From 1931 to 1935 he lived in the French Concession in Tianjin at the following address: 181A St. Louis (the contemporary name is: Yingkou dao 营口 道 street). Throughout his career, Bontemps kept on photographing his environment and he consequently left a significant visual archive notably regarding China.
