Théophile Ferré

Théophile Ferré by Félix Vallotton.

Théophile Charles Gilles Ferré,(Paris, 1846 - Satory, 1871) was one of the members of the Paris Commune. He, together with Louis Rossel and Bourgeois, was one of the first to be executed (November 22, 1871) at Satory, the military base south-west of Versailles.

Théophile Ferré was condemned to death for having ordered the execution of six hostages including Georges Darboy, the archbishop of Paris. Darboy, Bonjean (président de chambre à la Cour de cassation), the priest Deguerry of the Église de la Madeleine, and Allard, Clerc, Ducoudray of the Society of Jesus were executed on May 24 - the ill-fated Wednesday of the "Semaine Sanglante" (Sunday, May 21-Sunday, May 28). This act was in retaliation for the summary executions by the Versailles troops who by then had already captured the heights of Montmartre, where Ferré, who had been elected to the Commune by the XVIIIth district (Montmartre), was among the last defenders.

Théophile Ferré.

Ferré was also charged with having issued the order to burn down the ministry of Finance. At the trial a note reading :"Flambez Finance!" signed by Ferré was produced. The signature later proved a forgery (Lissagaray). Ferré nevertheless did indeed order the burning of buildings.(see also: Pétroleuses)

Louise Michel was deeply in love with Théophile Ferré. Both were from the same district:Montmartre. Both took the same defiant attitude at their trial, as described by Lissagaray in his "Histoire de la Commune de 1871" (Bruxelles: Kistemaeckers ed, 1876)

The Commune had attempted to negotiate to exchange Mgr Darboy with Louis Auguste Blanqui. The American ambassador in Paris, Elihu B. Washburne, was the intermediary in negotiations over this with Versailles. He could only communicate Adolphe Thiers's refusal to the Communards.

Sources

• Lissagaray: "Histoire de la Commune de 1871" (1876) Paris: Librairie Marcel Rivière -Bibliothèque des Sciences Politiques et Sociales, 1947 (see:[1])
• Bernard Noël: "Dictionnaire de la Commune" Paris: Champs Flammarion, 1978

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Name	Ferre, Theophile
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Date of birth	1846
Place of birth
Date of death	1871
Place of death