Jacques Léon Clément-Thomas, was born in 1809 in

Libourne Libourne (; oc, label= Gascon, Liborna ) is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the wine-making capital of northern Gironde and lies near Saint-Ém ...

(Gironde) and shot in Paris on 18 March 1871, one of the first deaths of the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defende ...

. A Republican of the old guard, Clément-Thomas was an army general, Commander in Chief of France's

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

on two occasions, and a parliamentary deputy.

Early military and political career

Jacques Léon Clément-Thomas joined the army as a volunteer at the age of twenty. As a junior officer of republican tendencies, he was implicated in several plots (including that of

Lunéville Lunéville ( ; German, obsolete: ''Lünstadt'' ) is a commune in the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It is a subprefecture of the department and lies on the river Meurthe at its confluence with the Vezouze. History L ...

) during the

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 ...

. Arrested in 1835, Clément-Thomas managed to escape from the

Sainte-Pélagie Prison Sainte-Pélagie was a prison in Paris, in active use from 1790 to 1899. It was founded earlier than that, however, in 1662, as place for "repentant girls" and later "debauched women and girls." The former Parisian prison was located between the ...

in Paris. Exiled to England, Clément-Thomas returned to France after the amnesty of political offenders in

1837 Events January–March * January 1 – The destructive Galilee earthquake causes 6,000–7,000 casualties in Ottoman Syria. * January 26 – Michigan becomes the 26th state admitted to the United States. * February – Charles Dick ...

and collaborated with the newspaper '' Le National'', the organ of the "bourgeois Republican" majority. Clément-Thomas was a supporter of the

French Second Republic The French Second Republic (french: Deuxième République Française or ), officially the French Republic (), was the republican government of France that existed between 1848 and 1852. It was established in February 1848, with the February Re ...

and was elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1848 as member for Gironde. When the uprising of June 1848 broke out, he was placed in command of the National Guard of the Seine, which harshly repressed the revolting workers of the National Ateliers. Clément-Thomas failed to be elected a deputy of the Legislative Assembly in 1849. Clément-Thomas opposed

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A neph ...

's coup d'état of December 2, 1851 and vainly tried to raise the Gironde against the coup. During the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire (; officially the French Empire, ), was the 18-year Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third Republic of France. Historians in the 1930s ...

, he went into exile in Belgium and Luxembourg.

Return to the National Guard

Clément-Thomas returned to Paris after the proclamation of the Republic on 4 September 1870. The

Government of National Defence The Government of National Defense (french: Gouvernement de la Défense nationale) was the first government of the Third Republic of France from 4 September 1870 to 13 February 1871 during the Franco-Prussian War. It was formed after the proclam ...

appointed him commander in chief of the National Guard of the Seine during the siege of Paris. He participated in the disastrous Buzenval breakout attempt of 20 January 1871. Clément-Thomas resigned his command on 13 February.

Execution

During the uprising of 18 March 1871, in civilian clothes, Clément-Thomas reconnoitered the barricades of Montmartre. He was recognized and seized by the crowd, thrown on top of the corpse of General

Claude Lecomte Claude Lecomte (September 8, 1817 – March 18, 1871) was a French general killed by the National Guard of the Paris Commune. Biography Lecomte graduated from the military academy of Saint Cyr in 1837, was promoted Colonel in August 1865 and ...

, who had been lynched a few minutes earlier, and killed in his turn. Their bodies remained exposed for two days on rue des Rosiers (now rue du Chevalier-de-la-Barre). A Doctor Guyon, who examined the bodies afterwards, found forty balls in the body of Clément-Thomas and nine rounds in the back of Lecomte. The legend that Generals Lecomte and Thomas were shot "in a regulation manner" by a firing squad was a fabrication: it is based on a photograph staged by the photographer

Eugène Appert Eugène Appert who was born at Angers in 1814, went to Paris in 1837, and became a disciple of Ingres. He painted numerous pictures of merit, among which are a portrait of ''Pope Alexander III as a Beggar'', which is now in the Luxembourg; ''Nero ...

, which was taken in June, three months later. There was even a 1908 activist theater production (entitled ''La Commune''), which portrays a pseudo-trial of the two generals before their execution.

Legacy

On 18 November 1871 a court-martial (le 6e Conseil de Guerre) handed down the death penalty to

Simon Charles Mayer Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

(1820 Nancy - 1887

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (B ...

), major of the Paris Commune, for being responsible for the murder of the two generals Claude Lecomte, and Jacques Leonard Clement Thomas, in spite of weak evidence. In 1872 this sentence was commuted to life-long forced labour, and thereafter he was exiled to

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

References

Other Sources

* Bernard Noël, ''Dictionnaire de la Commune'' ictionary of the Commune Flammarion, collection Champs, 1978. * Récit de l'exécution des Généraux Lecomte et Clément-Thomas par Alphonse Daudet dans ''Le jardin de la rue des rosiers - Souvenirs d'un homme de lettres'' [Account of the execution of Generals Lecomte and Clément-Thomas by Alphonse Daudet in ''The Garden on the Rue des Rosiers - Memories of a man of letters.''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clement-Thomas, Jacques Leon 1809 births 1871 deaths People from Libourne Politicians from Nouvelle-Aquitaine Moderate Republicans (France) Members of the 1848 Constituent Assembly Executed French people Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery

Early military and political career

Return to the National Guard

Execution

Legacy

See also

References

Other Sources