Marie Denizard

Marie Denizard
Marie Denizard's publicity image from 1913 French presidential election.
Born	3 April 1872 Pontru
Died	May 21, 1959(1959-05-21) (aged 87) Leyme
Known for	First woman to stand as a candidate in a French presidential election

Marie Denizard (3 April 1872 - 21 May 1959) was a French feminist activist. On 17 January 1913, she was the first woman to stand as a candidate in a French presidential election. French women did not achieve suffrage until 1944.^[1]

Marie Eugénie Gabriel Denizard was born on 3 April 1872 in Pontru,^[2] the daughter of Marie-Sophie-Julie Lesourd, a dressmaker, and Charles-Joseph Denizard, a dentist. The Denizard family was originally from the Vermandois region, near Saint-Quentin (Aisne). Her brother Orens Denizard was an artist and draughtsman.

Marie Denizard attended the Lycée de Jeunes Filles d'Amiens, now the Lycée Madeleine-Michelis.^[3] In the early 1910s, after living for a time in Pontru,^[4] she moved to 6 rue Saint-Martin in Amiens, with her mother, who worked as a culottière, and two younger sisters, Hélène (born 1885) and Madeleine (born 1887).^[5]

Denizard became involved in the feminist cause in the last years of the nineteenth century,^[6] and is thought to have contributed to Marguerite Durand's feminist publication La Fronde before 1910.^[7] She also contributed to MP Paul Dussaussoy's report in favour of women's suffrage, alongside other notable French female suffrage campaigners.^[6] The Napoleonic Code, established in 1804, declared the legal and political incapacity of women, and was seen as and used as a barrier to block attempts to improve women's political rights.^[8]

Denizard also belonged to a temperance league in Amiens called l'Étoile bleue.^[9]

Denizard announced her candidacy for the French Chamber of Deputies (parliament) in 1910 French legislative election, standing in the constituency of Amiens.^[7][10] She stood on a platform demanding civil rights for women, campaigned against the damage that alcoholism cause amongst the working classes, and against child abandonment. However, as a woman, she was ineligible to stand for election, and ballot papers bearing her name were not counted among the votes cast.^[9] France only granted women the right to vote and stand in elections in 1944, with their first opportunity to use that right being on 29 April 1945.^[8]

The same year, Denizard drafted a motion in favour of women's right to vote and stand for election, which Louis-Lucien Klotz, MP and Radical conseiller général for the canton of Rosières-en-Santerre, agreed to submit to the conseil général de la Somme, which adopted it unanimously on 30 September 1910.^[6] Denizard commented on and justified the text in an article published in Le Chambard d'Amiens.^[11]

Shortly afterwards, she published La Femme et la loi salique, the first in a series of studies dedicated to the women of Picardy, exploring women's rights before 1789.^[12]

In March 1911, Denizard sent a letter to the Prefect of the Somme asking to be relieved of ‘all personal taxes and contributions’ pointing out that since women were deprived of all political rights, they ‘should not have to suffer laws or pay taxes that they have not consented to’. She argued that French women should not ‘be taxed in a personal capacity, either directly or indirectly, as a duty must always have as its immediate corollary the exercise of a right’.^[13]

In April 1912, she wrote an article based on personal research in which she put forward the hypothesis of Jean-Baptiste Lully's Picard origins.^[14] The fanciful nature of this theory was demonstrated by Julien Tiersot in Le Ménestrel.^[15]

In Le Journal of 26 December 1912, the journalist Fernand Hauser wrote: ‘Feminists have sometimes claimed that Congress can elect a woman; this is a mistake. The text of the Constitution expressly states: ‘The President of the Republic’ in the masculine form; there can therefore be no doubt. However, the Assembly, being sovereign, would have the right to satisfy the wishes of women politicians; but let one of them stand for election, and see...‘.^[16]

Marie Denizard decided to take up the challenge and announced it to Hauser, who interviewed her and published her photograph on the front page of Le Journal on 4 January. Denizard pointed out that there had already been female heads of state, citing the historical examples of the regents of the kingdom of France, alongside Catherine the Great and Queen Victoria, as well as contemporary examples of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. She told Hauser: ‘My candidacy is not as fanciful as one might think. It means that women have the right to take their share of government, since they pay their share of taxes: why shouldn't widows, bachelors and divorcees vote? Why shouldn't they be eligible? Why shouldn't married women have the right to replace their husbands in his civic rights, authorised by him, when he is failing, ill or absent?‘.^[6]

Denizard's testimonial candidacy was not taken seriously by male journalists. The least sympathetic of them was the editorial writer Jean Ernest-Charles, who considered Denizard's ‘childish and ostentatious candidacy’ and ‘compromising antics’ akin to the British suffragettes, whose campaigns for women's rights he branded as ‘sickly eccentricities’ attributed to ‘hysteria’ caused ‘by too long a celibacy’.^[16] More surprisingly, disapproval also found expression in the feminist camp: Marguerite Durand considered Denizard's candidacy to be nothing more than an ‘unfortunate joke’ detrimental to the credibility of the feminist movement.^[17] Although she didn't give Denizard much attention, Jane Misme's La Française journal was more sympathetic to this ‘simple demonstration of principle’, which ‘achieved its propaganda goal’, and stressed that the candidate was ‘a zealous and serious feminist’.^[18]

Denizard even had ballot papers printed in her name and drafted a profession of faith that she sent to members of parliament.^[19] The New York Times covered her candidacy.^[20]

In January 1913, Marie Denizard wrote an article for Arria Ly's Le Combat féministe.^[21]

In 1914, Marie Denizard contributed to the Cri des femmes, a weekly for which she edited the Somme department's.^[22] However, she soon came into conflict with the paper's sponsor, Judge George Bonjean, who refused to pay her a fee.^[23]

Denizard's financial situation became precarious, and she could no longer pay the rent on the flat she and her mother occupied in rue Lavalard in Amiens.^[24] On 6 May 1914, she was arrested after making threatening remarks to the bailiff sent by her landlord.^[25] Imprisoned for a fortnight, she was charged with insulting behaviour and death threats.^[26] In La Française, journalist Alice Berthet called for solidarity with the former presidential candidate.^[27] The Ligue de défense des femmes provided her with a Parisian lawyer, Mr. Lenoble. In the end, the court was lenient and only sentenced her to a 25-franc suspended fine for contempt.^[28]

Later in 1914, she was evacuated to Bordeaux due to the First World War. She made pacifist statements during this period which were not approved by the political elite.^[24] Denizard was then placed under surveillance by the Direction de la Sûreté générale because of the resentment she expressed against her exclusion from political life. This surveillance continued after the First World War and her return to Paris.^[16]

Thereafter, Marie Denizard was much less in the news. In November 1922, she sent a petition to the Senate in which she claimed to be a victim of abuse of power.^[29]

In 1926, at the request of the police commissioner of the Odéon district, Denizard was hospitalised for delusions of persecution and demands, the psychiatrist concluding that she had a complex psychosis.^[16] In 1928, she was transferred to the asylum at Leyme with a diagnosis of paranoia and ‘delusions of politico-social demands’.^[30]

Marie Denizard died on 21 May 1959 at the asylum^[31] in Leyme (Lot), after having been incarcerated there for 32 years.^[32][33]

Marie Denizard's life was rediscovered by historian Prescillia Da Silva in 2023.^[34][35][36]

On 20 May 2024, as part of the Journées du matrimoine (Heritage Days), a plaque in memory of Marie Denizard was unveiled at Pontru town hall.^[37]

1. ^ ""Qu'on m'élise Présidente de la République, pour voir..." : l'audace de Marie Denizard, première femme candidate à l'élection présidentielle". France 3 Hauts-de-France (in French). 2024-09-06. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
2. ^ Archives départementales de l'Aisne, état civil de Pontru, registre de l'année 1872, acte No. 9 (vues 180-181 sur 433)
3. ^ Textes et documents sur la Somme, n^o 58 (Le vote des femmes, 1910-1945), September 1994.
4. ^ Le Guetteur de Saint-Quentin et de l'Aisne, 13 April 1910, p. 2.
5. ^ Archives départementales de la Somme, recensement de la population, Amiens sud-ouest, 1911 (vue 509 sur 586). Ce recensement contient apparemment quelques erreurs sur les prénoms et dates de naissances des quatre femmes.
6. ^ ^{a b c d} Fernand Hauser, «Une candidate à la présidence», Le Journal, 4 January 1913, p. 1.
7. ^ ^{a b} Journal de la ville de Saint-Quentin et de l’arrondissement, 30 March 1910, p. 2.
8. ^ ^{a b} "La France est l'un des derniers pays d'Europe à avoir autorisé le droit de vote des femmes". Europe 1 (in French). 2020-03-07. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
9. ^ ^{a b} Textes et documents sur la Somme, No. 58 (Le vote des femmes, 1910-1945), September 1994.
10. ^ "Election de 1910. Portrait de la candidate Marie Denizard, paru dans le Journal d'Amiens". archives.somme.fr (in French). Retrieved 2024-11-03.
11. ^ "Le Journal des femmes : organe du mouvement féminin / dir. Maria Martin". Gallica. 1910-10-01. Retrieved 2024-11-01.
12. ^ La Française, 11 January 1913, p. 3.
13. ^ Le Guetteur de Saint-Quentin et de l'Aisne, 22 March 1911, p. 2
14. ^ texte, Société internationale de musique Section de Paris Auteur du (1912-01-15). "Revue musicale S.I.M. / publiée par la Société internationale de musique (section de Paris)". Gallica. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
15. ^ "Le Ménestrel : journal de musique". Gallica. 1912-06-22. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
16. ^ ^{a b c d} Fernand Hauser, «Comment on élit le président de la République», Le Journal, 26 December 1912, p. 2.
17. ^ Marguerite Durand, «Geste fâcheux», Les Nouvelles, 6 January 1913, p. 1.
18. ^ La Française, 11 January 1913, p. 3.
19. ^ Fernand Hauser, «Autour du Congrès», Le Journal, 13 January 1913, p. 1-2.
20. ^ "TimesMachine: Tuesday January 14, 1913 - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
21. ^ Marie Denizard, «La femme française et le service militaire devant l'histoire», Le Combat féministe, January 1913, p. 3-4.
22. ^ Le Progrès de la Somme, 16 June 1914, p. 3.
23. ^ texte, Flax (1876-1933) Auteur du (1914-07-04). "Les Hommes du jour / dessins de A. Delannoy ; texte de Flax". Gallica. Retrieved 2024-11-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
24. ^ ^{a b} "Marie Denizard féministe, de la Picardie à la Présidence de la République : exposition itinérante". Association lgbt FIER.E.S ET QUEER (in French). 2024-09-05. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
25. ^ Le Progrès de la Somme, 8 May 1914, p. 3.
26. ^ Le Progrès de la Somme, 28 May 1914, p. 3.
27. ^ La Française, 30 May 1914, p. 3.
28. ^ Le Progrès de la Somme, 18 June 1914, p. 3.
29. ^ "Journal officiel de la République française. Débats parlementaires. Sénat : compte rendu in-extenso". Gallica. 1923-03-02. Retrieved 2024-11-03.
30. ^ "Marie Denizard, pionnière du féminisme, hospitalisée pendant 32 à l'asile de Leyme". ladepeche.fr (in French). Retrieved 2024-09-06.
31. ^ "Institut Camille Miret | Soins en Santé mentale, Handicap, Inclusion | ICM46". Institut Camille Miret (in French). Retrieved 2024-11-03.
32. ^ Lafon, Ludovic (2024-04-15). "Conférence sur Marie Denizard : Le destin tragique d'une féministe avant l'heur". Institut Camille Miret (in French). Retrieved 2024-11-03.
33. ^ "Marie Denizard, féministe, de la Picardie à la Présidence de la République". Musée du Vermandois (in French). Retrieved 2024-11-03.
34. ^ Prescillia Da Silva, Marie Denizard d'Amiens (1872-1959) de l'Élysée à l'Asile, M2 sous la direction de Mathilde Larrère, Champs sur Marne, université Gustave-Eiffel, 2023.
35. ^ Archives de la Somme (2024-06-20). Marie Denizard 1872 - 1959 - Conférence de Prescillia Da Silva - "Mardi des Archives". Retrieved 2024-11-03 – via YouTube.
36. ^ Métropole, Amiens. "Marie Denizard, féministe maudite". Amiens Métropole (in French). Retrieved 2024-11-03.
37. ^ Boutreux (CLP), Jean-Robert (2024-09-22). "La vie de Marie Denizard racontée aux habitants de Pontru, sa commune de naissance". L'Aisne nouvelle (in French). Retrieved 2024-11-03.