Charles Prosper Eugène Schneider, also known as Eugène Schneider II (French: Eugène II Schneider; 29 October 1868 – 17 November 1942), was a French industrialist, head of Schneider-Creusot,[1][2] politician and inventor. In 1923, he was awarded the John Fritz Medal.[3][4]
Schneider was appointed as co-chairman of Schneider et Compagnie in 1896.[6] He became its sole chairman in 1898.[6] The company dominated the steel and armaments sector of France and much of central Europe.[8]
In 1917 he accepted the presidency of the British Iron and Steel Institute, a position he occupied for 2 years. In 1919 he was sent on a mission to America by the French government and whilst there was awarded the Gold Medal of the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America. In 1922, the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) awarded him the John Fritz Medal. In 1930 he was awarded, like his father in 1889, the Bessemer Gold Medal for services to the steel industry.[8]
He died in Paris in 1942, only weeks after the Le Creusot factory was demolished by the RAF in World War II.[8]
He married Antoinette de Rafélis de Saint-Sauveur, an heiress to the Château d'Apremont-sur-Allier. They had three sons : Henri-Paul, Jean and Charles, and a daughter, Marie-Zélie, also known as May, who became the Duchess of Brissac by marriage.
