Édouard Lockroy

Who was Édouard Lockroy?

Édouard Lockroy was a French politician.

He was born in Paris, the son of Joseph Philippe Simon, an actor and dramatist who took the name of Lockroy.

He had begun by studying art, but in 1860 enlisted as a volunteer under Garibaldi. The next three years were spent in Syria as secretary to Ernest Renan, and on his return to Paris he embarked in militant journalism against the Second French Empire in Le Figaro, the Diable à quatre, and eventually in the Rappel, with which his name was thenceforward intimately connected. He commanded a battalion during the siege of Paris, and in February 1871 was elected deputy to the National Assembly where he sat on the extreme left and protested against the preliminaries of peace.

In March he signed the proclamation for the election of the Paris Commune, and resigned his seat as deputy. Arrested at Vanves he remained a prisoner at Versailles and Chartres until June when he was released without being tried. He was more than once imprisoned for violent articles in the press, and in 1872 for a duel with Paul de Cassagnac.