Ferdinand de Lesseps
Ferdinand de Lesseps, (1805-94). French diplomat and engineer, who promoted the building of the Suez and Panama Canals. He served as a consul in various foreign cities, including Cairo, where he became interested in plans for the Suez Canal. He was subsequently allowed to raise the money necessary and to supervise the construction of the canal (1859-69). In 1880 he headed the Panama Canal Company, but this became bankrupt within ten years, before the canal was finished. De Lesseps was subsequently charged with breach of trust over his running of this scheme. He was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in 1892 but was too ill to leave his bed and died two years later at home.
