ABSTRACT
The industrial espionage that Castries asked Le Turc to undertake was very important. The engineer Le Turc was not a man who fitted into norms or had much patience with the regular, the commonplace or the humdrum. In the 1790s Le Turc was approached by the Government for his views on technological transfer, and whether French or foreign savants could be turned to for the bringing in of foreign industry. As an industrial spy seeking new civilian technologies in Britain Le Turc was given an astonishingly wide remit, and this does not seem to be caused simply by his own overambition, but the requests of his government. The fall of administrations affected Le Turc as it did others seeking government favour and finance; his schemes risked losing support which could only be regained by renewed and lengthy lobbying. The patented goods were apparently sent to prove some argument which Le Turc was making in a memoir.
