Pauline Léon was a radical organizer and feminist during the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

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Biography

Léon was born to chocolate makers Pierre-Paul Léon and Mathrine Telohan in Paris on 28 September 1768, one of six children. Her father died in 1784, after which time Léon worked along side her mother in exchange for free room and board and supported her siblings. It is believed that she became a political radical after witnessing the execution of leaders of a bread riot.

On 6 March 1791 she addressed the National Assembly

National Assembly (French Revolution)

During the French Revolution, the National Assembly , which existed from June 17 to July 9, 1789, was a transitional body between the Estates-General and the National Constituent Assembly.-Background:...

 on behalf of Parisian women, suggesting that a female militia be formed so that women could protect their homes from counter-revolutionary assaults. In July 1791 she signed the petition at the Champ de Mars. Léon was a founder of the Society of Revolutionary Republican Women

Society of Revolutionary Republican Women

The Society of Revolutionary Republican Women was a political club during the French Revolution formed July 9 1793, lasting less than five months...

 (Société des Républicaines-Révolutionnaires) with Claire Lacombe

Claire Lacombe

Claire Lacombe nicknamed "Red Rosa," was an actress in her early life, but is best known for her contributions during the French Revolution...

 and became its president on 9 July 1793. The Société only lasted for about a year before authorities shut it down. She was also a leader of the Femmes Sans-Culottes in 1793. She also was a frequenter of the Cordeliers

Cordeliers

The Cordeliers, also known as the Club of the Cordeliers, Cordeliers Club, or Club des Cordeliers and formally as the Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen , was a populist club during the French Revolution.-History:The club had its origins in the Cordeliers district, a...

 Club. At age 29, she married Théophile Leclerc

Jean Theophile Victor Leclerc

Jean Théophile Victor Leclerc, aka Jean-Theophilus Leclerc and Theophilus Leclerc d'Oze , was a radical French revolutionist and publicist...

, the leader of the enragés

Enragés

Les Enragés were a loose amalgam of radicals active during the French Revolution. Politically they stood to the left of the Jacobins. Represented by Jacques Roux, Théophile Leclerc, Jean Varlet and others, they believed that liberty for all meant more than mere constitutional rights...

, although they were arrested and held separately in the Luxembourg prison from April to August, 1794. Léon and Lacombe both held strong hatred towards Lafayette, mostly due to his wartime opinions and actions.

Little is known about Léon's later life. She died at home in Bourbon-Vendée on 5 October 1838.