Guillaume et Pierre Leleu

Guillaume Pierre Leleu, the first justice of peace of the canton of Clères, was born in Bolbec on April 9, 1743, the son of a baker merchant father. He first worked as a ploughman and came to settle near his elder brother who had been appointed parish priest of Grugny at the presentation of the Lords of Clères, probably following the death of his wife.

On the 3rd day of December 1790, Guillaume Pierre Leleu held his first audience in Monville, then the capital of the canton. Hearings were held as needed sometimes in Monville, sometimes in Clères, often at 8 a.m. There were few acts at that time, perhaps 35 to 40 per year.

The judge continued to live in Grugny, with his brother and sister, who remained unmarried, then 52 years old. However, during the revolution, his brother was deported in execution of the law and his furniture was deposited in Rouen. Guillaume Pierre Leleu complained of being without fire despite the rigour of the season and also of the irregularity of the service of the Bulletin des Lois.

He was apparently a correct and conciliatory judge and in 1801, when the three justices of peace of Cailly, Monville and Quincampoix were merged into one with Clères as its seat, he was preferred to his colleagues Claude Dubuc and Jean Pierre Thomas Jones. His last hearing as a judge of the canton of Monville was held on 22 September 1801.

He continued his duties as justice of peace of the canton of Clères until his death at the home of his brother, the parish priest of Grugny on 6 March 1812. He had still held his hearing on February 12, when he was nearly 69 years old. 

Pierre Leleu alias Adrien, alias Pierre Guillaume Adrien had been the vicar of La Houssaye Béranger. He was presented to the parish of Grugny on 27 July 1769 by Françoise Martel, widow of Charles Martel, lord of Clères.

He declared in 1791 that he could not take the civic oath as required by the decree of the National Assembly. "I declare that as a pastor I am committed to watching carefully over the flock entrusted to me by God. As a patriot, I promise the Nation an inviolable attachment as a faithful subject. I recognize the king as the true and legitimate monarch of France and I vow the most respectful devotion to his sacred person."

On 14 May 1791, he entrusted the municipality with the religious furniture inventoried on 1 September 1790 and the Catholic registers (ADSM L 2594). He obtained a passport from his municipality and sailed from Dieppe to England on September 10, 1792. 

In England, he "made mattresses in the French style that he sold for fifty francs each; Mr. Meade was one of his clients. He also made stuffed slippers for the winter and galoshes; M. Goudemetz used it in the country, in his winter rounds. At Mr. Meade's, father, mother, children, servants, found the invention excellent and were the first customers of the exile. (A priest of Normandy who took refuge in England. The Review of Historical Questions. 1900, page 487)

He became the parish priest of Frichemesnil after the concordat and died on 4 October 1818. Father Leleu was the last parish priest of Grugny. In 1820, his tomb remained against the wall of the parish church. His laudatory epitaph in which he was called "father of the poor, model of virtues, regretted by all" no longer attracted the attention of the faithful, and the tomb has now disappeared.

The parish priest Pierre Guillaume Adrien Leleu also had a college in his home in Grugny where he accomodated a few students as boarders. He delegated a large part of the education of the children to his brother Guillaume Pierre Leleu. Jacques Salbigoton Quesné, born in Pavilly on January 1, 1788, was one of the students of this college. In his Confessions, he evokes memories of his stay in Grugny and of the two boarding masters, the two Leleu brothers.