Suzanne Curchod Necker (1737–1794)

Suzanne Necker, née Curchod, was born in the Swiss village of Crassier (or Crassy) on the French border, where her father was the local pastor. She received a solid education, studying history, sciences, languages and the classics, and became known for her accomplishments as well as for beauty. In 1757, she met Edward Gibbon, who wanted to marry her; but his father disapproved of the match and Suzanne did not want to leave Switzerland for England. Instead, in 1764 she married Jacques Necker, an ambitious banker with whom she had a daughter, Anne Louise Germaine, the future Madame de Staël. Madame Necker presided over a brilliant Paris salon frequented by artists, writers, intellectuals, and politicians such as Diderot and d'Alembert, as well as other Swiss expatriates such as Madame Geoffrin and the Marquise du Deffand. She wrote books and articles on literary and moral topics, but only a few survive. She devoted much of her time to supervising the education of her daughter Germaine, and established a hospital that still bears her name. In 1776, Madame Necker's husband became finance minister for King Louis XVI. He was dismissed from office in 1781, only to be recalled a few years later to try to solve the nation's disastrous economic situation. Eventually, the king fired him again and the Neckers left Paris and retired to their estate of Coppet in Switzerland.