Alexis Soyer - Biography

Biography

Alexis Benoist Soyer was born at Meaux-en-Brie in France. His father had several jobs, one of them as a grocer. In 1821 he was expelled from school and went to live with his elder brother Phillipe in Paris. He became an apprentice at the Grignon restaurant in Paris. Later, in 1826 he moved to Boulevard des Italiens restaurant, where he became a chief cook. By 1830, Soyer was a second cook to Prince Polignac, the French prime minister.

During the “Les Trois Glorieuses” revolution in 1830, Soyer fled to England and joined the London household of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, where his brother Philippe was head chef. Later, he worked for various other British notables, including the Duke of Sutherland, the Marquess of Waterford, William Lloyd of Aston Hall and the Marquess of Ailsa at St Margaret’s House, beside the Thames and Priory Gardens in Whitehall.

His wife, Elizabeth Emma Jones, achieved considerable popularity as a painter, chiefly of portraits. She was one of the youngest persons to exhibit at the Royal Academy; in 1823, at the age of 10, she submitted the Watercress Woman. Her portrait of Soyer was engraved by Henry Bryan Hall. She died in 1842 following complications suffered in a premature childbirth brought on by a thunderstorm. Distraught, Soyer erected a monument to her at Kensal Green Cemetery.

Soyer died on 5 August 1858. At the time he was designing a mobile cooking carriage for the Army. He was buried on 11 August in Kensal Green Cemetery.