Alfred Léon Gérault-Richard

Alfred Léon Gérault, known as Gérault-Richard (1860-1911), was a French journalist and socialist politician, born at Bonnétable (in the "départment" of Sarthe) of a peasant family.

He began life as a working upholsterer, first at Le Mans, then at Paris (1880), where his peasant and socialist songs soon won him fame in the Montmartre quarter. Prosper-Olivier Lissagaray, the communard, offered him a position on "La Bataille", and he became a regular contributor to the progressive journals, especially to "La Petite République", of which he became editor-in-chief in 1897.

In 1893 he founded "Le Chambard", and was imprisoned for a year (1894) on account of a personal attack upon the president, Jean Casimir-Perier. In January 1895 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies as a member of the Socialist Party for the XIIIth arrondissement of Paris. Gérault-Richard was defeated at the elections of 1898 at Paris, but was twice re-elected (1902-1906 and in 1906-1911) by the colony of Guadeloupe. He died in Fréjus.

References

*1911|article=Gerault - Richard, Alfred Leon|url=http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Gerasa
* [http://www.eglise-etat.org/Deputes.htm French deputies associated with the conflict over "Laïcité"]