The Duchess of Uzès, first license holder and fined at 15 km / h

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  , in partnership with RetroNews, the BnF press site, offers you a series of articles on the pioneers of aviation and the automobile.

• The Duchess of Uzès, in 1898, was the first French woman to pass, and obtain, her driver's license.

• Less than two months later, the Duchess is a pioneer in another area by being the first woman fined for speeding.

Woman driving.

Among the pioneers of the automobile, there is a pioneer in the person of Anne de Rochechouart de Mortemart.

Better known by her title, Duchess of Uzès, she is indeed the first woman to have obtained, in 1898, the ancestor of the driving license.

She also distinguished herself, some time later, by being the first woman fined for speeding.

Born in the middle of the 19th century, Marie Adrienne Anne Victurnienne Clémentine de Rochechouart de Mortemart came from a prestigious French aristocratic family.

Great-granddaughter of the famous Veuve Clicquot, she became Duchess of Uzès at the age of 20 by marrying Emmanuel de Crussol d'Uzès.

Widowed eleven years later, the duchess did not have a temperament to let go.

“She was a woman of a rare personality.

She was an artist, lieutenant of wolfing, suffragette, support of General Boulanger to restore the monarchy, ”explains to

Jacques Emmanuel de Crussol, 17th and current Duke of Uzès.

But his ancestor also had a passion for automobiles, a field that would occupy a good part of his life.

“It is only one element among others, but in fact, what marked is that she was the first woman to have her driving license”, recognizes the Duke of Uzès.

“It was a time when this was not expected of a woman”

We are in May 1898 and, as she confided to a reporter from

, the duchess had already "for more than six months" her own car before taking the exam that will make her famous.

"It was a type 1 twin-cylinder Delahaye which still exists and is on display at the Compiègne museum", explains Jacques Emmanuel de Crussol.

In the newspapers of the time, the adventure is followed like a serial.

Both because it is an aristocrat, but especially because a woman intends to set foot in a domain reserved for men.

"It was a time when this was not expected of a woman," says Charles de Luynes, a descendant of one of the Duchess's daughters.

"At first, some family executives found it scandalous, but his insistence and success led them to admiration," he adds.

“It was perceived as something out of the ordinary,

The day before the exam, April 21, 1898, the newspaper

was full of praise for the Duchess.

"Ms. d'Uzès will do all this very well, very in accordance with prefectural regulations, because, we repeat, the chatelaine de Bonnelles is today a master in the art of steering a car", writes the journalist Hervé Lefranc.

And, on April 23,

titled "The first driver", after the Duchess obtained her "car driver's license".

In the tests, she "responded with as much confidence and skill as if she had been the winner of our last car races", enthuses the daily.

A few days later, the Duchess will return to her success in the exam in the columns of the

, being surprised "to see all the noise that has been made around this thing yet so simple in itself".

During the same interview, she confided to the journalist her "delightful impressions" of going "at the pace that [him] pleased, of overtaking the other cars quickly, quickly".

A thirst for speed that will quickly get him into trouble.

"The enforcement officer was probably even able to catch up with them on foot"

Indeed, less than two months after obtaining her license, the Duchess of Uzès was arrested for "exaggerated speed" while she was traveling with her son at the wheel of her Delahaye, avenue du Bois de Boulogne, in Paris.

At 15 km/h instead of the authorized 12 km/h, "the ticketing officer was probably even able to catch up with them on foot", laughs Jacques Emmanuel de Crussol.

Summoned to the simple police court as reported by

, the two offenders "will indeed be sentenced to a fine of 28 francs".

A landmark trial, according to the journalist, because it will be the starting point of the revolt of car drivers, who want to see the "traffic permit" abolished.

This incident did not dampen the enthusiasm of the Duchess to get involved in the automotive world.

Rejected from the circle of the Automobile Club of Paris because she was a woman, Anne de Rochechouart de Mortemart founded, in 1926, its counterpart for ladies, the Automobile-Club Feminine.

“When will the first car race for ladies take place?

“, then quipped

.

“Coquettery and débinage will lose what sportsmanship will gain, but will this be a significant progress in the intellectual and social sense?

Let us be careful not to swear to it”, wrote André Billy in the columns of L'Œuvre, on June 19, 1926. “Women who drive cars, it was a bit surprising.

It was another for the time, ”recognizes the current Duke of Uzès.

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• Automotive

• Women

• Driver's license

• Speeding

• Company

• Car