Floresca Guépin (née, Leconte; 26 March 1813 – 11 November 1889) was a French feminist and teacher. She co-founded the "Société Nantaise pour l'Enseignement Professionnel des Jeunes Filles" (The

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabit ...

Society for the

Vocational Education Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an in ...

of Young Girls). "Médiathèque Floresca-Guépin", the media library in the Bottière-Chénaie district of

, is named in her honor. Guépin died in 1889.

Biography

Floresca Clémentine Leconte was born 26 March 1813, in

Sézanne Sézanne () is a commune in the Marne department and Grand Est region in north-eastern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Sézannais''. Population Notable people *Leonie Aviat, Saint *Floresca Guépin (1813-1889), feminist, teacher, school f ...

. She met Doctor Ange Marie François Guépin (1805-1873) in a

Saint-Simonian Saint-Simonianism was a French political, religious and social movement of the first half of the 19th century, inspired by the ideas of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). Saint-Simon's ideas, expressed largely through ...

circle of friends in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

. Floresca spoke English well and was in touch with several American families, including the Lowell-Putnams of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

. During the summer of 1853, Floresca, Ange Guépin, and the Lowell-Putnams traveled to

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period o ...

, including Nantes, the Lowell-Putnams having an interest in the history of Nantes, in particular the period of the

Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First French Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public Capital punishment, executions took pl ...

. There, they met

Jules Michelet Jules Michelet (; 21 August 1798 – 9 February 1874) was a France, French historian and an author on other topics whose major work was a history of France and its culture. His Aphorism, aphoristic style emphasized his Anti-clericalism, anti-cle ...

who was then in exile. On 1 December 1854, Floresca married Ange Guépin, and became step-mother to his children, Ange Victor (b. 1831) and Marie (b. 1838). From 1858, they lived at L'Oisillière near

Savenay Savenay (; ''Savenneg'' in Breton) is a town (administratively a commune) in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France which is part of the Pays de la Loire region. It is located on the Sillon de Bretagne (a mountain range defining the ...

. Floresca Guépin, a friend of

André Léo André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese language, Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French language, French-s ...

, a feminist militant and future communarde, introduced him to Grégoire Bordillon. In these years, she influenced those around her to support

abolitionism Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...

. In January 1870, with her husband and Prosper Vial, a metals trader, Guépin co-founded the "Société Nantaise pour l'Enseignement Professionnel des Jeunes Filles", which ran first two and later three secular workshop schools, modeled on the school established by their friend, Élisa Lemonnier, in 1862, in Paris. After she was widowed in 1873, Guépin directed the workshop schools for several years. These workshop schools were behind the future Vial et Guépin technical school in Nantes.

Death and legacy

Floresca Guépin died 11 November 1889, in

. The media library of the Bottière-Chénaie district in Nantes, opened in June 2007, is named in her honor.

Biography

Death and legacy

References

Further reading