French physician and politician. He became one of the 10 Deputies of Paris in the Assemblée Constituante on May 2, 1789, and was Secretary to the Assembly from June 1789 to October 1791. On October 10, 1789 Guillotin proposed to the legislative assembly that criminals should be executed privately, away from crowds, via a machine that takes off the head painlessly. It was not until 1791 that a law was passed that everyone condemned to death in France should be decapitated. The surgeon Antoine Louis together with the German harpsichord maker, Tobias Schmidt, and France's main executioner, Charles-Henri Sanson, are credited with designing the machine. It was Schmidt who built it. Guillotine died from a carbuncle on the left shoulder. The association with the machine embarrassed Guillotin's family and they asked the government to change the name of it. When the government refused, the family changed their name.
French physician and politician. He became one of the 10 Deputies of Paris in the Assemblée Constituante on May 2, 1789, and was Secretary to the Assembly from June 1789 to October 1791. On October 10, 1789 Guillotin proposed to the legislative assembly that criminals should be executed privately, away from crowds, via a machine that takes off the head painlessly. It was not until 1791 that a law was passed that everyone condemned to death in France should be decapitated. The surgeon Antoine Louis together with the German harpsichord maker, Tobias Schmidt, and France's main executioner, Charles-Henri Sanson, are credited with designing the machine. It was Schmidt who built it. Guillotine died from a carbuncle on the left shoulder. The association with the machine embarrassed Guillotin's family and they asked the government to change the name of it. When the government refused, the family changed their name.
Bio by: Dan Silva
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