Jean-Barthélemy Le Couteulx, comte de Canteleu et de Fresnelles, seigneur de Yonville (4 March 1749 – 18 September 1818) was a French politician and banker, notable as one of the founders of the Banque de France.
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Life
Usually thought to have been born in Rouen, some biographies place his birth or death instead at the au château de Farceaux (Eure) or his birth at Canteleu. Son of Thomas-Barthélemy Le Couteulx, Premier Président of the Chambre des comptes de Normandie, Jean-Barthélemy initially became a banker in Rouen and then first 'échevin' to the 1789 convocation of the Estates General. On 21 April 1789 he was elected third estate deputy to the Estates General for Rouen. Particularly interested in financial matters, he supported Jacques Necker's plans and rapporteur for the law on the sale of 400 million francs of clergy lands.
In 1790 he refused the post of caissier général of the Extraordinaire and proposed a ban on deputies occupying an executive post. Under the Reign of Terror he was imprisoned from 3 December 1793 to 13 August 1794 before resuming his post as deputy. Initially retiring from political life at the end of the session and setting up offices on place Vendôme, on 20 October 1793 he was elected by 237 out of 685 votes deputy for Seine to the Conseil des Anciens, sitting with the moderates. As at the first assembly, he produced several reports on financial matters, contributed to the adoption of the resolutions on payment of state goods and had the resolution banning British goods adopted. After the Coup of 18 Fructidor he bravely opposed the proscription of his Girondin colleagues, declaring that he had seen nothing in the evidence presented against them which could justify such a rigorous measure. He eloquently argued for those deported and their families before becoming secretary and president of the assembly.