Etienne Vincent Guilbert (1761 - ca1818)

The son of a labourer from Saint-Jean-sur-Cailly, he studied in Rouen. He was a vicar at Saint Vigor de Rouen at the beginning of the Revolution but he refused to take the oath to the Convention. He then became the editor of the "English Mercury" then of the "Journal du Commerce". He bought a printing house in 1792.

Having written an article too favorable to the king during the king's trial, he was arrested and forced into exile on April 15, 1793.

After two years in Lausanne, he returned in July 1795. Having become a Republican, he directed the "Vedette Normande", an organ subsidized by the Directory. In 1796 he married Marie Anne Poteau, whom he had met in Switzerland.

It was then that he founded a society of theophilanthropy. This cult is close to "natural religion" to the detriment of "revealed religion". The Directory supported this move to weaken Catholicism.

However, he was suspected and lost his subsidies then worked with the printer Nicolas Herment from 1796 to 1800.

 As a member of the Société Libre d'Émulation, he produced noticeable eulogies and commentaries.

After the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire (November 1799), he was again suspected; his newspaper and his sheet of advertisements (Répertoire Maritime) were prohibited.

In 1810 he was bankrupt and not being a patented (1) printer, he went to work in Paris with printer Pierre Gueffier.

 Back in Rouen, he taught languages and then left for England after the "Hundred Days".

The date and place of his death are unknown. On the marriage certificate of his daughter Reine in 1834 it is noted “father absent for nineteen years”.

(1) Under the Empire (February 5, 1810) only people authorized by the Ministry of the Interior could be printers or booksellers, they were said to be patented.