Lesseps, Ferdinand Marie (1805–1894)

Portrait of Ferdinand Marie, Vicomte de la Lesseps, a French diplomat and engineer famed for designing and building the Suez Canal, 1859–69.

French engineer. He designed and built the Suez Canal 1859–69. He began work on the Panama Canal in 1881, but withdrew after failing to construct it without locks.

Lesseps was born in Versailles and became a diplomat. From 1825 he held posts in various capitals, including Lisbon, Tunis, and Cairo. Interested in engineering and construction, he suggested in 1854 that a passage should be cut to link the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, and was put in charge of the work. The canal was successfully completed in 1869, shortening the route between Britain and India by 9,700 km/6,000 mi.

The Panama Canal project, undertaken when he was in his seventies, met with failure and bankruptcy. Lesseps was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for breach of trust, but was too ill to leave his house.