DCB/DBC Mobile beta
+

As part of the funding agreement between the Dictionary of Canadian Biography and the Canadian Museum of History, we invite readers to take part in a short survey.

I’ll take the survey now.

Remind me later.

Don’t show me this message again.

I have already taken the questionnaire

DCB/DBC News

New Biographies

Minor Corrections

Biography of the Day

Confederation

Responsible Government

Sir John A. Macdonald

From the Red River Settlement to Manitoba (1812–70)

Sir Wilfrid Laurier

Sir George-Étienne Cartier

Sports

The Fenians

Women in the DCB/DBC

The Charlottetown and Quebec Conferences of 1864

Introductory Essays of the DCB/DBC

The Acadians

For Educators

The War of 1812 

Canada’s Wartime Prime Ministers

The First World War

DELABORDE (de la Borde, La Borde), JEAN, king’s attorney; b. 1700 or 1701 in the parish of Saint-Germain-le-Vieux, Paris, France; d. 1754 at Louisbourg, Île Royale (Cape Breton Island).

Jean Delaborde issued from a bourgeois family. From his uncle, Jean de La Borde, who had bought the office of billeting officer for the king’s household in 1687, he inherited 21,000 livres in 1719. Little else is known of him before he arrived in Louisbourg in 1739 to assume the posts of king’s attorney at the bailiff’s and the admiralty courts. At the bailiff’s court he replaced Claude-Joseph Le Roy* Desmarest and at the admiralty, Philippe Carrerot, a temporary appointee. The duties for both positions were the same; to hold the admiralty office, which pertained solely to maritime affairs, one had first to be nominated by the admiral of France and then commissioned by the king. The offices were ones of trust, the holders representing the interests of both king and public in seeing that laws were obeyed and justice rendered impartially. The king’s attorney was responsible for investigating and presenting civil and criminal cases to the court for its decision. Before being permitted to exercise his duties Delaborde was required to present to the Conseil Supérieur his commissions and certificates of baptism and good character, and to swear before it an oath of office. He held his posts until the fall of Louisbourg to New England troops in 1745. Four years later Île Royale was restored to France, and in 1750 Delaborde resumed his functions.

Delaborde appears to have been a kind and unobtrusive person. In 1749 he became guardian to the three daughters of Louis Levasseur, lieutenant general of the admiralty court, and at his own expense sent two of them to school at Quebec under the care of the notary Paul-Antoine-François Lanoullier Des Granges. The third, Thérèse, stayed with him in Louisbourg where he appears to have attended to her every need, including lessons from the dancing master, Ducourday Feuillet.

After nearly a year of insanity Delaborde died, and was buried at Louisbourg on 17 Nov. 1754. He had married early in life, but his wife’s name is not known and there is no indication that she ever lived in Louisbourg. His career should not be confused with that of Jean La Borde*, notary, agent of the treasurers-general of the Marine in Île Royale, and attorney general of the Conseil Supérieur of Louisbourg.

T. A. Crowley

AD, Charente-Maritime (La Rochelle), B, 270, f.67. AN, Col., B, 68, f.355; C11B, 34, f.60; E, 238 (dossiers Jean Delaborde, Jean La Borde); F3, 50, f.233; Section Outre-Mer, G1, 409/1, f.39; G2, 185, f.488; 192/3, ff.12, 17v; 212, dossier 573. C.-J. Ferrière, Dictionnaire de droit et de pratique, contenant l’explication des termes de droit, d’ordonnances, de coutumes et de pratique (3e éd., 2v., Paris, 1749), 598–600. [Most authors, such as J.-E. Roy, Histoire du notariat, I, 373, have confused Jean Delaborde and Jean La Borde.  t.a.c.]

General Bibliography

Cite This Article

T. A. Crowley, “DELABORDE JEAN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 3, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, accessed March 29, 2024, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/delaborde_jean_3E.html.

The citation above shows the format for footnotes and endnotes according to the Chicago manual of style (16th edition). Information to be used in other citation formats:


Permalink:   http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/delaborde_jean_3E.html
Author of Article:   T. A. Crowley
Title of Article:   DELABORDE JEAN
Publication Name:   Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 3
Publisher:   University of Toronto/Université Laval
Year of publication:   1974
Year of revision:   1974
Access Date:   March 29, 2024