Barbe Le Clerch

Le Clerch was born on 5 February 1891,{{Sfn|Steiner|2022}} in the town of Le Faouët,{{Sfnm|1a1=Merriman|1y=2017|1p=102|2a1=Steiner|2y=2022}} in the Morbihan department of Brittany.{{Sfnm|1a1=Merriman|1y=2017|1p=102|2a1=Parry|2y=1987|2p=61|3a1=Steiner|3y=2022}} She was the eldest child of the day labourers Françoise Bérréat and Jean Louis Le Clerch, the latter of whom died while she was still young.{{Sfn|Steiner|2022}} She was raised by her mother in poverty and never received a literary education.{{Sfnm|1a1=Merriman|1y=2017|1pp=102-103|2a1=Parry|2y=1987|2p=61|3a1=Steiner|3y=2022}} At only 10 years old, she was forced to find a job as a domestic worker.{{Sfnm|1a1=Merriman|1y=2017|1pp=102-103|2a1=Steiner|2y=2022}}

Le Clerch was one of over 12,000 Bretons who migrated to the French capital of Paris for work.{{Sfn|Merriman|2017|pp=102-103}} There she met and fell in love with the illegalist anarchist {{ill|Marius Metge|fr}}, with whom she lived in Romainville.{{Sfnm|1a1=Merriman|1y=2017|1pp=102-103|2a1=Steiner|2y=2022}} Le Clerch lived in Romainville from December 1910 to April 1911. During this time, she worked as a domestic servant in Les Pavillons-sous-Bois and provided information about the property she worked in to Metge, who later burgled the residence. They briefly moved to Suresnes,{{Sfn|Merriman|2017|p=103}} before moving on to Garches.{{Sfnm|1a1=Merriman|1y=2017|1p=103|2a1=Parry|2y=1987|2p=61}} There they stayed in a bungalow known as "Holly Oak", where they provided a hiding place for {{ill|Édouard Carouy|fr}} while he was being trailed by a journalist.{{Sfn|Parry|1987|pp=85-86}} Over the subsequent year, they carried out a series of burglaries in order to sustain themselves.{{Sfn|Merriman|2017|p=103}} On 2 January 1912, Metge and Carouy carried out a robbery of a wealthy landlord's house in Thiais. They got away with roughly 10,000 francs, while Metge also took an umbrella and earrings to give to Le Clerch as gifts.{{Sfn|Parry|1987|p=86}}

Following the robbery, on 10 January, police launched a raid on the house of Louis Rimbault, where Le Clerch and Metge had stayed.{{Sfn|Merriman|2017|pp=130-131}} By this time, Le Clerch, Metge and Carouy had already fled their house in Garches, fearing that they were being watched.{{Sfn|Parry|1987|p=86}} On 14 January, police arrested Metge, but Le Clerch managed to escape capture.{{Sfnm|1a1=Merriman|1y=2017|1p=131|2a1=Steiner|2y=2022}} Police found Metge's palm print at a house on {{ill|Place du Havre|fr}} and found jewelry which had been stolen from the house at Le Clerch's residence.{{Sfn|Merriman|2017|p=220}} On 6-7 May 1912, police arrested Le Clerch and her new companion, another illegalist anarchist named Edouard Forget, on {{ill|Rue Du Couédic|fr|Rue Du Couédic (Paris)}}.{{Sfnm|1a1=Parry|1y=1987|1p=140|2a1=Steiner|2y=2022}} Le Clerch was caught in possession of over 900 francs,{{Sfnm|1a1=Merriman|1y=2017|1p=222|2a1=Parry|2y=1987|2pp=140-141|3a1=Steiner|3y=2022}} as well as items stolen from Les Pavillons-sous-Bois.{{Sfnm|1a1=Merriman|1y=2017|1p=222|2a1=Steiner|2y=2022}}

Le Clerch was incarcerated in Saint-Lazare Prison, together with two other women of the Bonnot Gang: Marie Vuillemin and Rirette Maîtrejean,{{Sfn|Parry|1987|p=148}} the latter of whom taught Le Clerch how to read.{{Sfnm|1a1=Merriman|1y=2017|1p=161|2a1=Parry|2y=1987|2p=148}} Le Clerch's physical health deteriorated in prison, as she had contracted tuberculosis. On 15 August 1912, she was granted compassionate release on medical grounds. She was given a place to stay at the offices of L'Anarchie, ran by Émile Armand. She later moved to {{ill|Rue des Panoyaux|fr}}, where on 9 November, she was again arrested together with her new companion Indalecio Ibañez, charged with having attacked a post office in Bezons.{{Sfn|Steiner|2022}}

File:Courtroom sketch of Le Clerch by Cipriani.jpg of Le Clerch during her trial in February 1913]]

Le Clerch was accused of complicity in theft and her trial began on 3 February 1913.{{Sfn|Merriman|2017|p=222}} Together with Vuillemin and Maîtrejean, the prosecution defined her by her gender rather than her alleged role in any criminal activity.{{Sfn|Parry|1987|p=155}} Metge himself confessed to participating in the burglary in Les Pavillons-sous-Bois, and admitted to having given Le Clerch some earrings and 1,300 francs which he claimed to have been given by "a friend", who he refused to name.{{Sfn|Merriman|2017|p=231}} At 05:00 on 25 February, Le Clerch, Maîtrejean, Vuillemin, and {{ill|Léon Rodriguez|fr}} were summoned to the court room.{{Sfn|Merriman|2017|pp=233-234}} The jury found them not guilty on all charges.{{Sfnm|1a1=Merriman|1y=2017|1pp=233-234|2a1=Parry|2y=1987|2p=159|3a1=Steiner|3y=2022}} Having escaped conviction, Le Clerch returned to her life in Paris, where she lived under a pseudonym.{{Sfn|Merriman|2017|p=307n31}} On 28 March 1914, she testified in the case against Indalecio Ibañez, but her defense of her companion was unsuccessful and he was given a life sentence of penal labour.{{Sfn|Steiner|2022}}

Few records exist of Le Clerch after 1914. According to her grandnieces, she went on to have two children and worked at a cooperative. Victor Serge wrote that she died shortly after her trial, but her family mention her having been visited by her younger sister around 1920; her own family do not know the details of her death.{{Sfn|Steiner|2022}}

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• {{cite book|last=Merriman|first=John|year=2017|title=Ballad of the Anarchist Bandits: The Crime Spree that Gripped Belle Époque Paris|publisher=Nation Books|isbn=978-1-56858-988-6}}
• {{cite book |last=Parry |first=Richard |title=The Bonnot Gang |url=https://archive.org/details/bonnotgang0000parr |url-access=registration |location=London |publisher=Rebel Press |year=1987 |isbn=0-946061-04-1}}
• {{cite encyclopedia|last=Steiner|first=Anne|date=2022-10-10|orig-date=2014-05-01|url=https://maitron.fr/spip.php?article158546|title=LE CLERCH (ou Le CLERC'H) Barbe, Marie, Josèphe|encyclopedia=Dictionnaire des anarchistes|publisher=Éditions de l'Atelier|language=fr}}

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Category:1891 births

Category:Year of death unknown

Category:Breton women

Category:French anarchists

Category:French domestic workers

Category:French prisoners and detainees

Category:People from Morbihan

Category:Prisoners and detainees of France