Jean-Marie Collot d’Herbois
Date of Birth
June 19, 1749
Date of Death
June 8, 1796
About
A former actor and playwright, Collot d’Herbois rose through the Jacobin Club and entered the Committee of Public Safety in 1793. Sent to Lyon with Fouché after the city’s defeat, he helped oversee the repression that followed, including mass executions by cannon fire and firing squad. He later joined the opposition to Robespierre and played a part in his overthrow at Thermidor. Condemned for his role in the government of Year II, Collot was deported to French Guiana, where he died in 1796.