Armand Peugeot

Born in 1849 into a Protestant family at Herimoncourt, in eastern France,[2] Armand Peugeot was the son of Emile Peugeot and grandson of Jean-Pierre Peugeot. The family had a metal working business, producing a range of practical goods such as springs, saws, spectacle frames and coffee grinders. In 1872 he married Sophie Leonie Fallot (1852-1930) and they had five children, but their only son, Raymond, died in 1896. Armand Peugeot died on 2 January 1915 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris

He was a graduate of the École Centrale Paris, a prestigious engineering school in France. In 1881, Armand travelled to England where he saw the potential of bicycles and their manufacture.

From 1865, Armand and his second cousin Eugène became involved with the running of the company, then called Peugeot Frères Aînés. They took it into cycle manufacture in 1882, and exhibited a steam-powered tricycle at the 1889 World Fair in Paris. They created their first car in their workhouse which is located in eastern France.

By 1892, the company name was Les Fils de Peugeot Frères, and they had begun to manufacture cars with Daimler engines. Armand wanted to increase production, but Eugène did not want to commit the company to the necessary investment. So, on 2 April 1896, Armand set up his own company, Société Anonyme des Automobiles Peugeot. He built a factory at Audincourt, dedicated to the manufacture of cars with an internal combustion engine.

In February 1910, without a male hier, he agreed to merge his company with Eugène’s. When he stepped down from managing the company in 1913, Peugeot

• Virtual Museum of Protestantism: The Peugeot family
• Franche-Comté region