North–South Street
Rue Law de Lauriston
Named after: Jean Law de Lauriston, Governor-General of French India (1719–1797)
Welcome to Rue Law de Lauriston. The man whose name is on this street surrendered to Robert Clive in 1752, then came back as Governor-General and rebuilt Pondicherry from rubble in five months. He served twice. Lawspet, a neighbourhood of Pondicherry, is also named after him. The city you are walking through is largely his work.
You are walking on a street named after one of the most remarkable comeback stories in French India. Jean Law de Lauriston (1719–1797), nephew of the financier John Law whose Mississippi Bubble had rocked France in 1720, was the officer forced to surrender on the island of Srirangam on 12 June 1752, encircled by Robert Clive. On the same day, Chanda Sahib, the French-backed Nawab of the Carnatic, was beheaded fifty kilometres away. Dupleix's entire Carnatic strategy collapsed in an afternoon.
Most careers do not recover from that. Law de Lauriston's did. After France recovered Pondicherry by treaty in 1765, he was appointed Governor-General and set about an extraordinary reconstruction. The British had razed the city systematically after its 1761 surrender: the palace, the fort, the churches, the warehouses, down to the foundations. Three months of deliberate destruction. Law de Lauriston reversed it in five: approximately 200 European and 2,000 Tamil houses raised on the original street pattern. Then he served a second term as Governor-General, 1767 to 1777, during which he secured the acquisition of Yanam for France through negotiations. He also wrote Mémoires on affairs of the Mughal Empire.
His son Jacques became a general under Napoleon. The neighbourhood of Lawspet bears his name. The White Town grid you are admiring is the grid he rebuilt. He lost a campaign and rebuilt a city. Not many people do both.
Notable on this street
- Lawspet, a neighbourhood of Pondicherry, is named after him. He left his mark on the city's map twice: in the street grid he rebuilt, and in the neighbourhood name that survives today.
- He surrendered to Robert Clive at Srirangam in 1752. The same man rebuilt Pondicherry from foundations up in five months, starting 1765. The arc of that career is extraordinary.
- He served two terms as Governor-General: 1765–1766 and 1767–1777. The second term secured Yanam for France. He kept finding ways to be useful.
- His son Jacques Law de Lauriston became a general under Napoleon. The family that lost the Carnatic produced a Napoleonic field commander one generation later.
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