Individual Details
Louis Marie Napoléon LE ROUX
(29 May 1890 - 5 Aug 1944)
Apparently it was Louis himself who added Napoléon as a middle name, and it appears that neither his wife nor the Le Roux family were ever quite sure why he did this. The name given on his marriage and death records is, however, Louis Marie Le Roux.
Louis was a journalist, author and fervent supporter of the Breton separatist movement. He worked as either a bookkeeper or private secretary to Breton nationalist and writer Taldir Jaffrennou and wrote for a number of Breton separatist publications, including the bilingual (French/Breton) newspaper Ar Bobl of which he was also a sub-editor. In 1911 he co-founded, with Camille Le Mercier d'Erm, the Parti National Breton (Breton Nationalist Party).
It is said that Louis fled France for Switzerland in 1913 to avoid conscription into the French army and that attempts were made to extradite him back to France. However, letters written to a friend, Paul Buchet, whom Louis first met around 1910 when both were doing compulsory military service in Saint-Malo, suggest that this was not the case. The letters, sent from Paris during 1913 and in early 1914, clearly show Louis’ intention to move to England in the near future. There is no mention of conscription or Switzerland, rather there are several references to the English lessons he was taking during 1913 in preparation for the move. He finally decided on 28 January 1914 to move to London the following week, following the end of a love affair with a woman who he felt had treated him badly. Lodgings in London were organised (in the home of a Mrs. Goode of 10 Burnley Road, Stockwell) and there is no reason to indicate he did not make the journey. It is of course possible Louis was conscripted once war broke out, and fled to Switzerland at that point.
Regarding Louis' whereabouts during the war, it is thought he visited Ireland for the first time in 1914, and we know that he served in the British Army from 11 June 1916 until 1 September 1917 when he was discharged on medical grounds. Attempts were made by the French government in 1916 to extradite Louis back to France but the British government refused stating that he was a political refugee. It is known he visited Ireland in 1919 when he spoke at a conference in Dublin hosted by the Irish Literary Society. In 1922 he was still living in London, working as private secretary to the British Labour politician (later prime minister) Ramsay MacDonald, whose papers he was translating into French. Louis returned to Ireland in 1930 to visit the grave of United Irishmen leader Wolfe Tone in Bodenstown Cemetery, Co. Kildare.
We know Louis He was living at 7 Clavering Avenue, Barnes in London in the summer of 1932 and moved to 65 Gloucester Terrace, London W2 in December of that year and it is thought he moved to Ireland around 1933, lodging for a number of years in the Dublin home of Kathleen Clarke, widow of Tom Clarke, one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising. Through republican contacts he found work with the Irish Hospitals' Trust (founded to provide funds, by means of a sweepstake system, for hospitals in Ireland). His job, in the Trust's Foreign Department, apparently involved the clandestine distribution of sweepstake tickets, through a republican network, in the United States where such lotteries were illegal at the time.
It is likely that Louis met Irish-born Marion Murphy, whom he would marry in 1936, shortly before leaving England for Ireland, or very soon therafter, because in 1932 or 1933 he was accompanied by a young Irishwoman (according to a newspaper account, apparently) on a 'Tro Breizh' pilgrimage in Brittany (that follows a route linking the seven Breton towns associated with Brittany's seven founding saints).
Due to economic cutbacks at the outbreak of World War II, Louis lost his job at the Irish Hospitals' Trust and, in 1939 or 1940, he and Marion reluctantly left Ireland to live in London. There he worked as an assistant to future Conservative prime minister Harold Macmillan. In 1944, however, Louis died following a German bombing raid. There are conflicting accounts of the exact circumstances of his death. According to one family source, Louis suffered a heart attack following a German attack. Another family member has told me he died from head injuries received when a building collapsed during a German raid, while Presse d'Armor journalist Dimitri Rouchon-Borie, in his 2008 article, 'Qui était donc Louis Napoléon Le Roux ?', tells us that Louis was in hospital in London suffering from a severe bout of 'flu and was killed when a V2 bomb was dropped on the building. And according to Louis' obituary in the Irish Press, he died "after a short illness". His death certificate reveals he died of a cerebral haemmorhage at the Middlesex Hospital in London, so we can safely say his death was not due to injuries sustained in a bombing. The letters "P.M." appear after his cause of death on the death certificate, indicating a post mortem was carried out. However, we have no information regarding the results of the post mortem. Louis' address on the death certificate is 14 Prince of Wales Terrace, Kensington, London. Marion was the informant (which to me seems unusual as hospital deaths are normally registered by a member of staff), and her address on the certificate is Green Ridges, Pelhams Walk, Esher, Surrey, which was the home of Marion's sister Ena. Given the different addresses, I wonder if Louis and Marion were separated at the time of Louis' death. Esher is not far from Surbiton which perhaps explains why Louis was buried in Surbiton Cemetery.
Louis' best-known work was a biography of Irish nationalist Padraic Pearse, 'L'Irlande Militante : La vie de Patrice Pearse', published in France in 1932 and translated into English shortly afterwards. It is believed the publication of this book may have been a factor in Louis being granted Irish citizenship in 1932. Other published works included several articles for the republican newpaper An Phoblacht in the early 1930s, and the publication in 1936 of 'Tom Clarke and the Irish Freedom Movement'. Louis also compiled a biography of the Limerick Fenian John Daly (an uncle of Kathleen, Tom Clarke’s widow), which remains unpublished.
In 2008 the Irish government purchased Louis' private papers from Marion's family. These documents are historically significant in that they provide fresh material relating to Irish republicanism in the early part of the 20th century. Now in the National Library in Dublin, the papers include correspondence with several leading republicans, including a number of survivors of the 1916 Rising. Many of these correspondents had provided Louis with information for his articles and biographies, but because of the risks to their security, Louis was at the time unable to reveal his sources in his published works; such secrecy is no longer necessary.
Many thanks go to Bob Boles and Didier Longuèvre for much of the above information. Further details on Louis' life and involvement in nationalist affairs may be found in Éamon Ó Ciosáin's article entitled 'La Bretagne et l'Irlande pendant l'entre-deux guerres (Première partie)', published (in French) in the Spring 1988 edition of the Breton historical journal Dalc'homp Soñj.
Louis was a journalist, author and fervent supporter of the Breton separatist movement. He worked as either a bookkeeper or private secretary to Breton nationalist and writer Taldir Jaffrennou and wrote for a number of Breton separatist publications, including the bilingual (French/Breton) newspaper Ar Bobl of which he was also a sub-editor. In 1911 he co-founded, with Camille Le Mercier d'Erm, the Parti National Breton (Breton Nationalist Party).
It is said that Louis fled France for Switzerland in 1913 to avoid conscription into the French army and that attempts were made to extradite him back to France. However, letters written to a friend, Paul Buchet, whom Louis first met around 1910 when both were doing compulsory military service in Saint-Malo, suggest that this was not the case. The letters, sent from Paris during 1913 and in early 1914, clearly show Louis’ intention to move to England in the near future. There is no mention of conscription or Switzerland, rather there are several references to the English lessons he was taking during 1913 in preparation for the move. He finally decided on 28 January 1914 to move to London the following week, following the end of a love affair with a woman who he felt had treated him badly. Lodgings in London were organised (in the home of a Mrs. Goode of 10 Burnley Road, Stockwell) and there is no reason to indicate he did not make the journey. It is of course possible Louis was conscripted once war broke out, and fled to Switzerland at that point.
Regarding Louis' whereabouts during the war, it is thought he visited Ireland for the first time in 1914, and we know that he served in the British Army from 11 June 1916 until 1 September 1917 when he was discharged on medical grounds. Attempts were made by the French government in 1916 to extradite Louis back to France but the British government refused stating that he was a political refugee. It is known he visited Ireland in 1919 when he spoke at a conference in Dublin hosted by the Irish Literary Society. In 1922 he was still living in London, working as private secretary to the British Labour politician (later prime minister) Ramsay MacDonald, whose papers he was translating into French. Louis returned to Ireland in 1930 to visit the grave of United Irishmen leader Wolfe Tone in Bodenstown Cemetery, Co. Kildare.
We know Louis He was living at 7 Clavering Avenue, Barnes in London in the summer of 1932 and moved to 65 Gloucester Terrace, London W2 in December of that year and it is thought he moved to Ireland around 1933, lodging for a number of years in the Dublin home of Kathleen Clarke, widow of Tom Clarke, one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising. Through republican contacts he found work with the Irish Hospitals' Trust (founded to provide funds, by means of a sweepstake system, for hospitals in Ireland). His job, in the Trust's Foreign Department, apparently involved the clandestine distribution of sweepstake tickets, through a republican network, in the United States where such lotteries were illegal at the time.
It is likely that Louis met Irish-born Marion Murphy, whom he would marry in 1936, shortly before leaving England for Ireland, or very soon therafter, because in 1932 or 1933 he was accompanied by a young Irishwoman (according to a newspaper account, apparently) on a 'Tro Breizh' pilgrimage in Brittany (that follows a route linking the seven Breton towns associated with Brittany's seven founding saints).
Due to economic cutbacks at the outbreak of World War II, Louis lost his job at the Irish Hospitals' Trust and, in 1939 or 1940, he and Marion reluctantly left Ireland to live in London. There he worked as an assistant to future Conservative prime minister Harold Macmillan. In 1944, however, Louis died following a German bombing raid. There are conflicting accounts of the exact circumstances of his death. According to one family source, Louis suffered a heart attack following a German attack. Another family member has told me he died from head injuries received when a building collapsed during a German raid, while Presse d'Armor journalist Dimitri Rouchon-Borie, in his 2008 article, 'Qui était donc Louis Napoléon Le Roux ?', tells us that Louis was in hospital in London suffering from a severe bout of 'flu and was killed when a V2 bomb was dropped on the building. And according to Louis' obituary in the Irish Press, he died "after a short illness". His death certificate reveals he died of a cerebral haemmorhage at the Middlesex Hospital in London, so we can safely say his death was not due to injuries sustained in a bombing. The letters "P.M." appear after his cause of death on the death certificate, indicating a post mortem was carried out. However, we have no information regarding the results of the post mortem. Louis' address on the death certificate is 14 Prince of Wales Terrace, Kensington, London. Marion was the informant (which to me seems unusual as hospital deaths are normally registered by a member of staff), and her address on the certificate is Green Ridges, Pelhams Walk, Esher, Surrey, which was the home of Marion's sister Ena. Given the different addresses, I wonder if Louis and Marion were separated at the time of Louis' death. Esher is not far from Surbiton which perhaps explains why Louis was buried in Surbiton Cemetery.
Louis' best-known work was a biography of Irish nationalist Padraic Pearse, 'L'Irlande Militante : La vie de Patrice Pearse', published in France in 1932 and translated into English shortly afterwards. It is believed the publication of this book may have been a factor in Louis being granted Irish citizenship in 1932. Other published works included several articles for the republican newpaper An Phoblacht in the early 1930s, and the publication in 1936 of 'Tom Clarke and the Irish Freedom Movement'. Louis also compiled a biography of the Limerick Fenian John Daly (an uncle of Kathleen, Tom Clarke’s widow), which remains unpublished.
In 2008 the Irish government purchased Louis' private papers from Marion's family. These documents are historically significant in that they provide fresh material relating to Irish republicanism in the early part of the 20th century. Now in the National Library in Dublin, the papers include correspondence with several leading republicans, including a number of survivors of the 1916 Rising. Many of these correspondents had provided Louis with information for his articles and biographies, but because of the risks to their security, Louis was at the time unable to reveal his sources in his published works; such secrecy is no longer necessary.
Many thanks go to Bob Boles and Didier Longuèvre for much of the above information. Further details on Louis' life and involvement in nationalist affairs may be found in Éamon Ó Ciosáin's article entitled 'La Bretagne et l'Irlande pendant l'entre-deux guerres (Première partie)', published (in French) in the Spring 1988 edition of the Breton historical journal Dalc'homp Soñj.
Events
| Birth | 29 May 1890 | Pleudaniel, Brittany, France | |||
| Marriage | 20 Jul 1936 | St. Andrew's Church, Westland Row, Dublin - Marion Delia MURPHY | |||
| Death | 5 Aug 1944 | Middlesex Hospital, Marylebone, London | |||
| Burial | 10 Aug 1944 | Surbiton Cemetery, Surrey |
Families
| Spouse | Marion Delia MURPHY (1898 - 1983) |
| Father | Pierre LE ROUX (1864 - ) |
| Mother | Françoise LE MEUR (1866 - ) |
| Sibling | Anne Marie LE ROUX (1886 - 1887) |
| Sibling | François Marie LE ROUX (1887 - 1915) |
| Sibling | Pierre Marie LE ROUX (1893 - 1896) |
| Sibling | Emile Eugène Marie LE ROUX (1895 - 1965) |
| Sibling | Maria LE ROUX (1897 - ) |
| Sibling | Rosalie (Louise) LE ROUX (1900 - ) |
| Sibling | Adolphe François Marie LE ROUX (1902 - ) |