Béatrix Excoffon, born Julia Euvrie or Œuvrie (10 July 1849 - 30 December 1916) was a militant

communard The Communards () were members and supporters of the short-lived 1871 Paris Commune formed in the wake of the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. After the suppression of the Commune by the French Army in May 1871, 43,000 Communards we ...

who served as an ambulance nurse during the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

in 1871. She was vice-president of the Club des Femmes de la Boule Noire, and was known as "the republican".

Life

Excoffon was born in

Cherbourg Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...

on 10 July 1849. In 1870, she was living in Paris with her partner, François, a printer. They had two children. In ''La Commune'',

Louise Michel Louise Michel (; 29 May 1830 – 9 January 1905) was a teacher and prominent figure during the Paris Commune. Following her penal transportation to New Caledonia she began to embrace anarchism, and upon her return to France she emerged as an im ...

relates that

Sophie Poirier Sophie Poirier (1830–1875) was a French seamstress and, during the Paris Commune, a communard. She started a seamstress co-operative with profit sharing during the 1870 Siege of Paris. It closed before the rise of the Commune. She chaired t ...

, Blin, and Excoffon asked her to join them in creating the Comité de vigilance de Montmartre. That committee then organized the Club des Femmes de la Boule Noire, and Excoffon became its vice-president. Sophie Poirier became its president. She requisitioned an apartment at 32 rue des Acacias in Paris, where she lived, for the use of the Vigilance Committee. At a meeting of the club of the Salle Ragache at the beginning of April, she said, "there are enough of us to attend to the wounded." On 3 April 1871, Excoffon took part in a women's march to Versailles, where the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

was located, reminiscent of the march of October 1789. Excoffon set up a mobile ambulance at Fort d'Issy for the Enfants-Perdus for a fortnight. Excoffon's ambulance was joined by

Alix Payen Alix Payen (born Milliet on May 18, 1842, in Le Mans and died on December 24, 1903, in Paris) was a French Communards, Communard Emergency medical technician, ambulance driver. She is known for her letters to her family, which were published afte ...

, who first became an ambulance nurse on the day her husband was wounded in the eye.. Commune_de_Paris_barricade_Place_Blanche

During

Bloody Week The ''Semaine sanglante'' ("") was a weeklong battle in Paris from 21 to 28 May 1871, during which the French Army recaptured the city from the Paris Commune. This was the final battle of the Paris Commune. Following the Treaty of Frankfur ...

, when the Versailles troops entered Paris, Excoffon defended

place Blanche The Place Blanche () in Paris, France, is one of the small plazas along the Boulevard de Clichy, which runs between the 9th and 18th arrondissements (Parisian districts) and leads into Montmartre. It is near Pigalle. The famous cabaret Moulin ...

at the barricades on 23 May 1871 along with

Élisabeth Dmitrieff Elisabeth Dmitrieff (born Elizaveta Lukinichna Kusheleva, , also known as Elizaveta Tomanovskaya; 1 November 1850 – probably between 1916 and 1918) was a Russian revolutionary and feminist activist. The illegitimate daughter of a Russian aris ...

, Nathalie Lemel, Blanche Lefebvre, and Malvina Poulain, also an ambulance nurse. 120 women delayed General Clinchant's troops before retreating, exhausted and low on ammunition, to

place Pigalle The Place Pigalle is a public square located in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, between the Boulevard de Clichy and the Boulevard de Rochechouart, near the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, Paris, Sacré-Cœur, at the foot of the Montmartre hill. The ...

.. After the end of the Commune, she was detained at

Satory Satory is an area south of Versailles (city), Versailles in France. It is mostly known for its military camp, housing: * Weapon-testing facilities of Nexter Systems * Barracks and facilities for French Gendarmerie, Gendarmerie including the G ...

, along with Louise Michel. The 4th Court Martial condemned her to deportation to a fortress on 13 October 1871. She was then imprisoned in Auberive. Louise Michel asked

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

to intervene on her behalf, since her parents and brother-in-law had died recently. Her sentence was reduced to ten years of imprisonment on 28 March 1872, and reduced further by one year on 15 August 1876. Finally, Excoffon made an act of submission and her sentence was commuted, resulting in her release on 26 November 1878. Excoffon and her partner married on 5 September 1874.

References

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Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Portal bar, Biography, France, History, Socialism Communards 1916 deaths 1849 births New Caledonian people People deported from France People from Cherbourg-Octeville French nurses French female military personnel People from Paris French socialists