Emile Auguste et Olga Restouble

Banking, a family story: the singular careers of the Restoubles in Paribas – Emile Auguste et Olga Restouble

Reading time : 5min 0 likes Mise à jour le : 29 Dec 2022

Tags :Employées . Paribas . Unusual

A bank is an area for finance. It is also a living place for the men and women who work there. Sometimes, a whole dynasty of employees can be found in a single establishment. One example is the Restouble family, three generations of which have worked at Paribas. This is a family history at the heart of the bank.

A bank is a place of work, but also a living area where couples meet and families are born. Martine Chabrol told us the story of her father, a gold market employee who subsequently worked as a “bank messenger” and “chief of a bank messenger team” at Paribas between 1922 and 1964, following in the footsteps of Martine Chabrol’s grandfather.

Emile Auguste Restouble and the gold market

Emile Auguste Restouble was twenty in 1922. He joined Paribas as an office clerk for the gold market, where he worked with his father, Emile Restouble, who had been a “halberdier” since the early 1900s. Both men had previously worked at Hôtel Crillon, the Paris luxury hotel, before moving to Paribas on the strength of a recommendation. It was thanks to the involvement of an acquaintance at the Crillon that both father and son in turn were hired by the bank at rue d’Antin in Paris. Emile Auguste Restouble had matriculated from school and worked on the gold market until the Second World War, when he was taken prisoner.

Emile Auguste at a lunch with his gold market department collaegues, around 1930 - BNP Historical Archives, Restouble - Chabrol Collection — Emile Auguste at a lunch with his gold market department collaegues, around 1930 – BNP Historical Archives, Restouble – Chabrol Collection

Bank messenger

The war years were, of course, terrible. Upon his return in 1945, Emile secured a position as a bank messenger at the clearing department. He wore a specific uniform for the job: a black morning coat with small buttons, a cocked hat and a case with a chain. The job, which no longer exists, required unstinting honesty, as it entailed recovering bills from borrowers on the due date. As a reward for his efficiency, Emile Restouble ended his career as chief of a bank messenger team. He was appointed to the position in 1963 and retired from Paribas the following year.

A profession… and a family!

Emile Restouble enjoyed a worthy career at Paribas during which he met the woman who later became his wife: Olga. After matriculating from school, Olga joined the bank in 1927 at the till correspondence department. Olga Restouble left the bank in 1947 when her daughter, Martine, was born.