Thomas-Alexandre Dumas - Later Years and Death

Later Years and Death

After he finally gained release in 1801, Dumas was not awarded "the pension normally allocated to the widows of generals" by the French government and he struggled to support his family after his return to France. He repeatedly wrote to Napoleon Bonaparte, seeking back-pay for his time lost in Taranto and a new commission in the military. He died of stomach cancer on 26 February 1806 in Villers-Cotterêts. At his death his son Alexandre was three years and seven months old. The boy, his sister, and his widowed mother were plunged into deeper poverty. Marie-Louise Labouret Dumas worked in a tobacconist's shop to make ends meet. For lack of funds, the young Alexandre Dumas was unable to get even a basic secondary education. Marie-Louise persistently lobbied the French government to be paid her military widow's pension. Marie-Louise and the young Alexandre blamed Napoleon Bonaparte's "implacable hatred" for their poverty.