Ariste Jacques Trouvé-Chauvel (8 November 1805 – 14 October 1883) was a French businessman, banker and politician. He was briefly Minister of Finance towards the end of 1848. Early years Ariste Jacques Trouvé-Chauvel was born in La Suze-sur-Sarthe, Sarthe, on 8 November 1805 (17 Brumaire year XIV). He was the son of René Trouvé (1781-1850) and Anne-Magdeleine-Louise Dorizon (1783-1845). His family came from Fillé, on the Sarthe River, about south of Le Mans. They became merchants and then tanners at La Suze. Trouvé-Chauvel studied at the School of Commerce in Paris. He worked for a merchant in Le Havre from 1826 to 1830, and then spent three years in manufacturing companies in England, Scotland and Ireland. When he returned to France he had become a believer in economic liberalism. In 1833 he set up business in Le Mans as a wholesale dealer in linen, muslin and lace. He was associated with a wholesale lace merchant, Louis-François Chauvel, whose daughter he married in 1834. He soon expanded his operations to discounting letter of exchange and settling commercial trades, a common practice at the time when there were no banks in the provinces to provide these services. Banker and politician Trouvé-Chauvel became an alderman of Le Mans in 1833 and General Counsel of the Sarthe in 1839. He became an ally of François Sevin, and on 9 August 1838 co-signed with Sevin a proposal for a Commercial, Industrial and Agricultural Bank of Sarthe. However, given their republican views they could not win government approval for a public limited company. The minister recommended that they create a society that could not issue shares, and they accepted this restriction, in 1840 creating a Caisse commerciale industrielle et agricole de la Sarthe. The name Caisse was chosen rather than Banque to avoid regulation by the Banque de France, which wanted to restrict competition. The same year they opened branches in Sablé, La Flèche and Paris. Over the next few years Trouvé-Chauvel also launched enterprises such as an insurance company, mills and a barge company. In 1840 Trouvé-Chauvel was appointed mayor of Le Mans, despite his Republican views. He gave a speech during a visit to the town by Prince Louis, Duke of Nemours that criticized the Orleans regime. He was dismissed along with all the other council members. A few days later he was reelected as councilor and soon after as deputy mayor. Second Republic