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Charles Alfred Chastel de Boinville

Anglo-French architect

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ62601222 ↗
Source-derived summary

Charles Alfred Chastel de Boinville (1849 – April 25, 1897) was an Anglo-French architect, who worked in Japan and Britain. His father was a well known clergyman who completed 30 years of missionary service in France, and left several publications on his life such as Thomas Constable's Memoir.

Early life

His ancestor prospered during the ancien régime in Lorraine, and owned estate named Boinville. His great-grandfather, Jean Baptiste Chastel de Boinville, became much associated with Lafayette in political matters, and served as aide-de-camp under him. When the French Revolution broke out, and the King and Queen were brought from Versailles to Paris, they were escorted by Lafayette, who rode on one side of the carriage, and by Boinville on the other.

Like many other noble unfortunates, Jean Baptiste's estates were confiscated by the Revolutionary Government. He escaped to Britain where he met a wealthy supporter of French emigres, John Collins, a sugar planter in St. Vincent. Jean Baptiste fell in love with a daughter of Collins, Harriet and got married at the Gretna Green. They had a son John Collins Alfred and a daughter Cornelia Pauline Eugenia.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Charles Alfred Chastel de Boinville” as anglo-French architect. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Charles, Alfred and Chastel.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1849, 1897—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1849-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Charles, Alfred and Chastel providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Charles Alfred Chastel de Boinville”, the useful work is to connect “anglo-French architect” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q62601222. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1849 and 1897.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Charles Alfred Chastel de Boinville”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Charles Alfred Chastel de Boinville primary sources, Charles Alfred Chastel de Boinville archive and Charles research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Charles Alfred Chastel de Boinville”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Charles Alfred Chastel de Boinville” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.