Emil Bruneau de Laborie

Émile Bruneau de Laborie was a fencing referee at the 1900 Paris Olympics. He was prominent in fencing circles in the Belle Époque, publishing the reference work Les Lois du Duel (1906), as a recognized duettist, writing a column on fencing for Le Figaro (under the pseudonym Jean Septime), and founding the first French national federation.

In the early 1920s Bruneau de Laborie was Honorary President of the Fencing and Pistol Training Society. He was one of the first Frenchmen to hold an aviation license, learning to fly at the Henry Farman School. He was a boxing enthusiast who promoted that sport and was made Honorary President of the Boxing-Club de France in 1924.

In World War I Bruneau de Laborie asked to be sent to the front and served four years in the artillery despite his age (43). He later became known for African exploration, including crossing the Libyan desert, which earned him a gold medal from the Geographical Society in 1924. He was a member of the Superior Council of the Colonies and was appointed inspector if hunting in the colonies in 1929. On one such expedition in 1930 Bruneau de Laborie was seriously injured by a lion in Oubangui-Chari and died in Bangui a few days later.