Jacques Necker

Jacques Necker (1732–1804) was a Swiss Protestant banker and statesman who served as Director General of Finance under King Louis XVI of France; he was the father of the celebrated author Madame de Staël. Rising to immense wealth through banking in Paris, Necker's financial reputation led Louis XVI to appoint him head of the Royal Treasury in 1777 to manage the heavy costs of French intervention in the American Revolutionary War without levying new domestic taxes.

In 1781, Necker made history by publishing the Compte rendu au roi, making the French royal budget public for the first time, selling 100,000 copies and exposing royal pensions to popular scrutiny. Recalled in August 1788 amid royal bankruptcy, he persuaded the King to double the representation of the Third Estate at the Estates-General of 1789. When Louis XVI abruptly dismissed him on July 11, 1789, the outraged Parisian populace took up arms, culminating three days later in the Storming of the Bastille.