Dufour, Guillaume Henri (1787–1875)

Swiss general and cartographer. In 1864 he presided over the international conference that framed the Geneva Convention. In 1833 the Diet (legislative assembly) commissioned him to supervise a trigonometrical survey of Switzerland, which he accomplished between 1842 and 1865.

Dufour was born in Constance. After service in the French army, he reorganized the Swiss army, which he commanded in a war 1847 between the Protestants and the Roman Catholics. Dufour quickly brought hostilities to a close, thereby preventing the intervention of foreign powers; and his friendship and negotiations with Napoleon III were later instrumental in dispelling a threatened war with Prussia.