Victor Morel

Born October 30, 1869 in Campagne les Hesdin (Pas-de-Calais), died January 23, 1927 in Paris. Member of Parliament for Pas-de-Calais from 1903 to 1927.

After medical studies, Victor Morel took in his native country the double succession of his father who was a doctor in Campagne les Hesdin for 35 years, mayor of his commune, then president of the district council and president of the General Council. Victor Morel began his parliamentary career in 1903.

The cancellation of Paul Truy's election on March 28, 1903 led to the election of May 10, the same year. Victor Morel ran in the district of Montreuil-sur-Mer on the list of the radical left. He is elected by 9.426 votes against 8.294 votes in Truy, out of 20.332 registered and 17.861 voters. A member of various commissions and the tax legislation commission, the new Pas-de-Calais deputy took part in the discussion of the budget for 1905 and various bills concerning workers' pension funds.

Re-elected on May 6, 1906, in the same constituency, by 10,927 votes to 7,104 in Cassagnade, out of 20,691 registered and 18,197 voters, Victor Morel continued his activity in numerous commissions and was elected Secretary of the House in 1909 and Secretary of the Third Bureau. During this 9th Legislature of the Third Republic, he took part in the discussion of bills and proposals for amnesty and intervened in the discussion of the budget for the year 1910.

He ran again in the 1910 elections. Out of 21,065 registered voters and 18,246 registered voters, he obtained in the first ballot 7,755 votes against 7,667 votes in Froissart and 2,632 in Devisme. He is elected in the second ballot by 9.720 votes against 8.170 in Froissart, on 21.064 registered and 18.145 voters.

A member of the agriculture committee and various other committees, Victor Morel submitted a report on the bills concerning the institution of chambers of agriculture and the creation of an insurance against agricultural disasters. He withdrew his candidacy as secretary of the Chamber in 1910.

At the 1914 consultation, the voters of Pas-de-Calais maintained their confidence in him by 9,853 votes against 6,205 in Froissart and 1,349 in Cauvet, out of 21,180 registered and 18,005 voters.

In the Chamber, his activity does not falter, whether it is within the commissions of work, agriculture, public hygiene, universal suffrage, or in public session. He was responsible for a bill to allocate state aid to the affected departments for the realization of works planned before the war (1918); a report on the bill to intensify the cultivation of cereals and another report on the cultivation of oats (1918); he was heard in 1919 as rapporteur in the discussion of the bill on the creation and organization of chambers of agriculture.

Victor Morel's new success in the 1919 elections: he was elected, by an absolute majority, on the social and national republican union list, by 55,779 votes ahead of the Socialist Party list. (Registered: 111,712; voters: 79,187; absolute majority: 38,287).

Once again, the Agriculture and Hygiene Commissions welcomed Victor Morel, who was also committed to the triumph of the ideas that were dear to him: he resumed his proposal for a law that would have the affected departments receive state aid for the work that had been planned before the war; he tabled a bill establishing the pension rights of civil servants who had fulfilled a legislative mandate. His report on the bill and the proposal for a law concerning the organization of chambers of agriculture and his new report on these same texts amended by the Senate are also noted. Victor Morel will take part, in a personal capacity or as rapporteur, in the numerous discussions concerning these same chambers of agriculture.

In the 1924 legislative elections, Victor Morel was elected on the Republican Union list by an absolute majority of votes. On 106.575 registered, 89.744 voters and 87.547 expressed votes, he obtains 47.783 votes behind Messrs Lefebvre du Prey, Abrami, Boulanger, Berquet and de St-Just.

Victor Morel regains his place within the committee of agriculture and the committee of hygiene. In 1924 he tabled a bill for the purchase of beet alcohol by the State.

On 23 January 1927 Victor Morel died in Paris, leaving a widow and six children. For twenty-four years he devoted his political activity to the solution of a few specific problems that were close to his heart.