Eleonore Louis Godefroi Cavaignac (1801 - May 5, 1845), was the eldest son of Jean Baptiste Cavaignac and the brother of General Eugène Cavaignac.

Like his father, a republican of the intransigeant type. He was bitterly disappointed at the triumph of the monarchical principle after the revolution of July 1830, in which he had taken part. He took part in the Parisian risings of October 1830, 1832 and 1834. On the third occasion he was imprisoned, but escaped to England in 1835.

When he returned to France in 1841 he worked on the staff of La Reforme, and carried on an energetic republican propaganda. In 1843 he became president of the Society of the Rights of Man, of which he had been one of the founders in 1832.

The recumbent statue (1847) of Godefroi Cavaignac on his tomb at Montmartre (Paris) is one of the masterpieces of the sculptor François Rude.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.