Henri Gradis

Moïse Henri Gradis (30 July 1823 – 23 January 1905) was a French businessman and historian.

Moïse Henri Gradis
Henri Gradis, president of the Consistoire israelite de Bordeaux 1892-1905
Born	(1823-07-30)30 July 1823 Bordeaux, France
Died	23 January 1905(1905-01-23) (aged 81) Paris, France
Nationality	French
Occupation(s)	Businessman and historian
Known for	Histoire de Bordeaux

Life

Moïse Henri Gradis was born on 30 July 1823 in Bordeaux.^[1] He came from a family of prominent Portuguese-Jewish Bordeaux merchants who had flourished in the 18th century but were ruined by the French Revolution and the insurrections in Santo Domingo and Martinique.^[2][3] His parents were Benjamin Gradis (1789–1858) and Laure Sarah Rodrigues Henriquès (1803–46). In 1853 he married Claire Brandame (1835–1925). Their son was Raoul Gradis (1861–1943).^[1] Their daughter Emma Gradis married Georges Schwob d'Héricourt in 1889.^[4]

The Maison Gradis recovered, and by 1892 was selling sugar from several producers in Bordeaux, Nantes and Marseille.^[5] Henri Gradis was deputy mayor of Bordeaux in 1864 and 1876.^[1] He was also the author of a history of Bordeaux and several other literary works.^[6] His history of the 1848 revolution won praise for its accuracy and lack of bias.^[7] Moïse Henri Gradis died in Paris in 1905.^[1] He was succeeded at the Maison Gradis by his son Raoul.^[8]

Publications

• Measure for Measure, by William Shakespeare (translation, 1847)
• Réflexions sur le christianisme, suivies d’une lettre à un jeune Israélite (1847-1850)
• Histoire de la guerre de 1870 (1870)
• Notes sur la guerre de 1870 et sur la Commune (1872)
• Histoire de la révolution de 1848
• Judaïsme et christianisme (1874)
• Notice sur la Famille Gradis et sur la Maison Gradis et Fils de Bordeaux (1875)
• Introduction à l'histoire du peuple d'Israël; judaïsme et christianisme (1876)
• Polyxène, drame antique en 4 actes et en vers (1881)
• Jérusalem, drame en 5 actes et en vers (1883)
• Histoire de Bordeaux. Bordeaux: Féret. 1901. p. 459. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2014-11-24.
• Le peuple d'Israël (Paris, 1891)