Gerry's Collection
of Antique Wax Seal Stamps
Family de Failly
A Lineage of Service and Honor
The de Failly Family: A Lineage of Service and Honor.
The de Failly family belongs to that solid and honorable stratum of the French military and administrative nobility which emerged from Lorraine, a region that for centuries produced soldiers, magistrates, and churchmen faithful to both France and its ideals.
Through generations, the family’s reputation rested on service, first to the Dukes of Lorraine, and later to the kings and emperors of France. By the 19th century, their name had become closely associated with one of France’s notable generals of the Second Empire: Pierre-Louis Charles de Failly, whose career embodied both the martial virtues and the controversies of his time.
General Pierre-Louis Charles de Failly, 1810-1892
Pierre-Louis, Comte de Failly
Portrait of Pierre-Francois, Comte de Failly
Origins and Nobility of the de Failly Family.
The de Failly family originated in Lorraine, a province long contested between France and the Holy Roman Empire. The earliest mentions of the name date from the 17th century, when members appear as écuyers (squires) and officers serving the ducal court of Lorraine. Like many Lorrain noble houses, the de Failly were of noblesse d’ancienne extraction, their nobility being recognized not by royal letters of ennoblement but by the continuous exercise of noble functions, particularly military service.
When Lorraine was annexed to France in 1766, families of such rank were integrated into the French nobility of province, enjoying local prestige even if they did not belong to the high court aristocracy. Their fortune was moderate, their honor substantial. By the dawn of the 19th century, this heritage of discipline and patriotism naturally led younger members into the Imperial army of Napoleon Bonaparte.
General Pierre-Louis Charles de Failly.
Born in Lorraine in 1810, Pierre-Louis Charles de Failly was the scion of this enduring military lineage. His education was entirely oriented toward arms: after studies at Saint-Cyr, the French military academy founded by Napoleon, he began a career that would span over half a century and carry him through some of France’s most dramatic campaigns.
Pierre-Louis' career
Pierre-Louis Charles de Failly began his military career during the conquest of Algeria, a formative campaign for many 19th-century French officers. Serving under the Duke of Aumale, he distinguished himself in operations against Abd el-Kader, showing both courage and organizational skill. By the late 1840s he had earned a reputation as a capable and composed officer, one who combined discipline in battle with an aptitude for administration and diplomacy.
His rise continued under the Second Empire of Napoleon III. During the Italian campaign of 1859, he served as chief of staff to Marshal MacMahon, taking part in the battles of Magenta and Solferino, decisive victories that shaped the unification of Italy. His calm leadership under fire earned him the Cross of Commander of the Légion d’honneur and the confidence of the Emperor, who soon counted him among his most trusted generals.
In 1867, de Failly commanded French forces in the campaign of Mentana, defeating Garibaldi’s volunteers who threatened the Papal States. The success preserved papal independence for a few more years and won him the Grand Cross of the Légion d’honneur, though the campaign itself divided public opinion between monarchists and liberals.
The Franco-Prussian War of 1870 marked the decline of his public career. As commander of the Fifth Army Corps, he was blamed for the French setback at Wissembourg, though the defeat stemmed as much from confusion and poor coordination as from any personal failing. Disgraced but not dishonored, de Failly retired quietly to Lorraine, where he remained respected as a model of integrity and devotion to duty. He died in 1892, remembered as “a man of the old school, faithful, disciplined, and serene to the end.”
The Family’s Position and Other Members.
The de Failly family, though never princely, belonged to the established noblesse of service. Their nobility was maintained through generations of officers and administrators who served without scandal or ostentation. In 19th-century France, such families formed the backbone of the army and civil service, loyal to the state regardless of its regime, monarchy, empire, or republic.
They held local influence in Lorraine, often as landowners, magistrates, or officers, and preserved a reputation for integrity and Catholic piety. Through Pierre-Louis Charles, the family reached national prominence; his decorations and the esteem of his peers effectively renewed the family’s social prestige after the upheavals of the Revolution and Empire.
The family’s title of baron or count (comte) was used in the 19th century as a titre de courtoisie, reflecting both its noble extraction and the dignity of the general’s office.
Félicité de Frézals de Bourfaud, General de Failly's wife.
General de Failly married Félicité de Frézals de Bourfaud, a lady of noble birth from Languedoc, thus uniting two distinguished but regionally distinct families, one from the north-east of France, the other from the south.
The Frézals de Bourfaud were part of the old provincial nobility of the Midi, with ancestral estates in the region of Tarn or Aveyron. Their name appears in the records of the noblesse d’ancienne extraction, holding the rank of écuyer in the 17th century. The family provided officers, magistrates, and churchmen, typical of the educated nobility of southern France.
Félicité herself was noted for her refinement and charitable nature, as befits a woman of her station. Marriages between such northern and southern houses were not uncommon in the 19th century; they consolidated social standing and linked different branches of France’s dispersed aristocracy.
The couple’s union was emblematic of a restored nobility that, after the turbulence of the Revolution and Empire, sought continuity through tradition and service. Their seal - engraved with the alliance arms of de Failly and de Frézals de Bourfaud, beneath a comital coronet and supported by a lion and a griffin - testifies to the dignity of that union. The ivory handle and silver mount reflect both refinement and the symbolism of permanence: strength joined to grace.
Gerry's Collection of Antique Seal Stamps.