Théodule Meunier (August 22, 1860 in

Bournezeau Bournezeau () is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. Geography The river Lay forms all of the commune's south-eastern border. See also *Communes of the Vendée department The following is a ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

– July 25, 1907 in Cayenne,

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

) was a French

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...

who, along with Emile Henry and

Auguste Vaillant Auguste Vaillant (27 December 1861 – 5 February 1894) was a French anarchist, most famous for his bomb attack on the French Chamber of Deputies on 9 December 1893. The government's reaction to this attack was the passing of the infamous repr ...

, was responsible for a series of bombings in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

during early 1892. The three specifically targeted both civilian and government buildings which included boulevard cafes, the homes of

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a ''magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

s, police stations and the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon ...

Biography

A cabinet maker by trade, Meunier had joined the

French anarchist movement Anarchism in France can trace its roots to thinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, who grew up during the Restoration and was the first self-described anarchist. French anarchists fought in the Spanish Civil War as volunteers in the International Brigad ...

during the early 1890s. According to

Charles Malato Charles Malato (1857–1938) was a French anarchist and writer. He was born to a noble Neapolitan family, his grandfather Count Malato being a Field Marshal and the Commander-in-Chief of the army of the last King of Naples. Though Count Mala ...

, it was said of Meunier that he was ''"...the most remarkable type of revolutionary illuminist, an ascetic and a visionary, as passionate for the search for the ideal society as Saint-Just, and as merciless as seeking his way towards it."'' During the trial of the notorious anarchist known as Ravachol, Meunier set off a bomb at the Lobau Barracks, the site of the Communard massacres, on 15 March 1892. On 25 April, the day before Ravachol was to be sentenced, the ''Cafe Very'' in which Ravachol was arrested was also bombed killing the owner and a customer as well as injuring numerous others. Seeking asylum in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, like other contemporaries such as Jean-Pierre François he lived as a political refugee in London for a time before his eventual arrest by Scotland Yard detective William Melville at

London Victoria station Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the ...

on 4 April 1894. Extradited to France in June, Meunier was tried the following month and sentenced to life imprisonment in a

penal colony A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer t ...

in Cayenne. He would remain there for 14 years until his death in 1907, following a failed escape attempt. He had been in correspondence with fellow French anarchist Jean Grave the previous year and, in one letter expressed no remorse for his crimes stating ''"I only did what I had to do. If I could start over again, I would do the same thing."'' He was used as the main antagonist of detective Sherlock Holmes in

René Réouven René (''born again'' or ''reborn'' in French) is a common first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is the masculine form of the name (Renée being the feminine ...

's 1985 novel ''L'Assassin du Boulevard''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meunier, Theodule 1860 births 1907 deaths French anarchists Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by France French prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment French people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in French detention People extradited from the United Kingdom People extradited to France