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Claire Lacombe
The young actress Claire Lacombe moved to revolutionary Paris in 1792 and threw herself into politics. She chose the side of the radical popular movement: death to the aristocrats, equality for all, women’s suffrage! With her Revolutionary Republican Women, Lacombe supported the women of Paris in their struggle against price gouging. The ruling committees tolerated the movement only as long as it served their interests—before eventually banning it. When her political allies—Jacques Roux and the Hébertists—were also persecuted, the activist was forced into hiding. But the agents of the Committee of General Security tracked her down and arrested her. Lacombe spent more than a year in prison—even after Thermidor. She refused to renounce her convictions. After her release, she resumed her work as an actress. There were rumors that the former revolutionary worked as an informant for the Paris police under the Directory. Later, she faded into obscurity. She fell into poverty. And over the years, her mind broke. Claire Lacombe died at the age of 61 in the Salpêtrière.
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1765 - 1826
- March 4, 1765 · (4 August?) Birth in Pamiers as the daughter of a merchant.
- 1783 · She begins a career as an actress in Marseille and Lyon.
- July 25, 1792 · Lacombe delivers a speech before the National Assembly, calling for a fight against the enemies of the Revolution. Without naming him directly, she calls for the dismissal of General Lafayette.
- August 10, 1792 · She takes part with a brigade of armed women in the storming of the Tuileries.
- May 13, 1793 · Together with Pauline Léon, Lacombe founds the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women. The association demands women’s suffrage and the socialization of the economy.
- June 2, 1793 · The Revolutionary Republican women take part in the purge of the Girondins.
- August 28, 1793 · Claire Lacombe submits a petition to the Convention calling for the formation of a government in accordance with the Constitution of 1793.
- October 28, 1793 · In the Paris market halls, a violent clash breaks out between the Revolutionary Republican women and moderate Jacobin women.
- October 30, 1793 · The Convention decides, on the proposal of Amar, to ban all political women’s societies.
- February 1794 · After the fall of the Enragés of Jacques Roux, she herself comes under threat as an ultra-revolutionary. She goes into hiding in Paris.
- April 2, 1794 · Claire Lacombe is arrested.
- August 20, 1795 · Release from prison after sixteen months of detention. She abandons political activity and works as an actress in Nantes.
- 1798 · Return to Paris.
- June 19, 1821 · Commitment to the Salpêtrière hospital because of a mental illness.
- May 2, 1826 · Claire Lacombe dies in Paris.
Quotes
Born with the courage of a Roman woman and the hatred of tyrants, I would be happy to contribute to their destruction.
Claire Lacombe before the National Assembly, 25 July 1792
Our rights are the rights of the people. If we are oppressed, we will know how to oppose resistance to oppression.
Claire Lacombe, 17 October 1793
Height: 5 feet 2 inches [1.57 m]. Hair, eyebrows and eyes brown, nose medium, mouth large, face and chin round, forehead ordinary.
From the register of Sainte-Pélagie prison concerning Claire Lacombe
Le Moniteur
Tridi 13 messidor an 9 de la République française une et indivisible.
(July 2, 1801)
Club of Patriotic Women
External links
