Maurice Antoine François Monguillot

Maurice Antoine François Monguillot (9 August 1874 – 23 June 1945) was a French colonial administrator in French Indochina [1] and soldier. He served as the acting governor-general of French Indochina three times; from May 1919 to February 1920, April 1925 to November 1925 and November 1927 to August 1928.

Maurice Antoine François Monguillot
Governor-General of French Indochina
In office 22 May 1919 – 19 February 1920
Preceded by	Albert Sarraut
Succeeded by	Maurice Long
In office 23 Apr 1925 – 18 Nov 1925
Preceded by	Martial Henri Merlin
Succeeded by	Alexandre Varenne
In office 1 November 1927 – 7 August 1928
Preceded by	Pierre Marie Antoine Pasquier
Succeeded by	Eugène Jean Louis René Robin
Personal details
Born	(1874-08-09)9 August 1874 Paris, France
Died	23 June 1945(1945-06-23) (aged 70)
Occupation	Colonial administrator

Monguillot was named a Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur on January 18, 1911, an Officier (Officer) of the Légion d’Honneur on March 23, 1916, Commandeur (Commander) of the Légion d’Honneur on January 18, 1921.[1] His published notice for Commandeur of the Légion d’Honneur in 1925 notes that he had served as a Resident Superior (First Class) in Indo-China, Resident Superior in Tonkin and was later administrator of the Distilleries of Indochine, president of the Colonial Trust, then president of the nationalized tin mines in Upper Tonkin.[2]

He won admission to the École Polytechnique of the Ministère de la Guerre in 1894 [3] for four years, then served as an artillery soldier in the Troupes de marine from 1896 and into World War One (until 1916). He served in Tonkin in 1902 during wartime, in peacetime Tunisia in 1906, to the French Antilles in 1908, in Cochinchina in 1909, wartime Tonkin in 1912, wartime Madagascar 1911–1912, French Equatorial Africa 1913–1914 and in the First World War in France August 2, 1914 to March 31, 1916.[1]

His school admission records to the École Polytechnique note that he was 1.67m tall with dark blonde hair and grey-blue eyes.[4]

During his time as administrator in Asia, he published a decree on October 30, 1925, protecting the Angkor site.[5] During Andre Malraux's time in Indochina, Monguillot watched him closely due to his association with Bolsheviks; when Malraux was in Hanoi, Monguillot refused to see him.[6]

Monguillot asked to exercise (and was granted) his pension rights due to his long tenure with the government (with a special dispensation because of his age) starting March 1, 1929. He was aged 55 at the time.[7]

Monguillot had a bird named after him, the Vietnamese greenfinch, so named by the American ornithologist Jean Théodore Delacour in 1926 under the binomial name Hypacanthis monguilloti [8]