Lucile Duplessis

Who was Lucile Duplessis?

Anne Lucile Philippe Laridon Duplessis was the wife of the French revolutionary and journalist Camille Desmoulins. She was the daughter of Claude Etienne Laridon Duplessis, an official of the French Treasury, and Anne Françoise Marie Boisdeveix. Her sister, Adèle Duplessis, was briefly engaged to Maximilien Robespierre.

She married Camille Desmoulins on December 29, 1790, at the Church of Saint Sulpice in Paris. Signatories to their marriage included Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve, Jacques Pierre Brissot, and Maximilien Robespierre. The Desmoulins's only child, Horace Camille, was born July 6, 1792. Robespierre stood as his godfather.

On April 5, 1794, Lucile Desmoulins was arrested on charges that she had conspired to free her husband. Camille Desmoulins was executed on the same day Lucile was arrested, and Lucile followed him to the guillotine on April 13, 1794. She is reported to have remarked, while awaiting her execution, "They have assassinated the best of men. If I did not hate them for that, I should bless them for the service they have done me this day."