Adolphe Clément
| Gustave Adolphe Clément later Clément-Bayard | |
|---|---|
| Born |
22 September 1855 Pierrefonds, Oise, France |
| Died | 10 March 1928 (aged 72) Paris |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Resting place | 'Domaine du Bois d'Aucourt d'Adolphe Clément-Bayard' at Pierrefonds |
| Nationality | French |
| Other names | Gustavus Adolphus Clément, Gustavus Adolphus Clément-Bayard |
| Education | Primary only |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, Manufacturer of bicycles, pneumatic tyres, motorcycles, motorcars and airships |
| Title | Commander of the Légion d'honneur |
| Successor | Maurice Clément-Bayard |
| Spouse(s) | Céleste Angèle Roguet |
| Children | Albert(c 1879–1907), Angèle (1880– 4 May 1972), Jeanne and Maurice |
| Parent(s) | Leopold Adolphus Clément and Julie Alexandrine Rousselle |
Gustave Adolphe Clément from 1909 Clément-Bayard (22 September 1855 – 10 March 1928) was a French entrepreneur. An orphan who became a blacksmith and a Compagnon du Tour de France, he went on to race and manufacture bicycles, pneumatic tyres, motorcycles, automobiles, aeroplanes and airships.
In 1894 he was a passenger in the winning vehicle in the world's first competitive motor event. Albert Lemaître's Peugeot was judged to be the winner of the Paris–Rouen Competition for Horeseless Carriages (Concours des Voitures sans Chevaux).
As a result of selling the manufacturing rights to his Clément car he added Bayard to the name of his new business. The company name honoured the Chevalier Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard who saved the company's town of Mézières from an Imperial army during the Siege of Mézières in 1521.
In 1909, five years after the successful launch of the Clément-Bayard automobile brand, he applied for and obtained the consent of the Conseil d'Etat to change his name and those of his descendants to Clément-Bayard. Clément-Bayard was appointed a Commander of the Légion d'honneur in 1912.
Most of his manufacturing empire was destroyed by World War 1, by German ransacking, by conversion to war production for France, and by the subsequent weak economic market. In 1922 the Clément-Bayard company was sold to André Citroën and the factory at Levallois-Perret was the centre of 2CV manufacturing for the next 40 years.
Adolphe Clément, the son of a grocer, was born at rue du Bourg, Pierrefonds, Oise. He was the second of five children of Leopold Adolphus Clément and Julie Alexandrine Rousselle. His mother died when he was seven years old and although his father remarried he also died 2 years later when Adolphe was nine years old. For the next seven years he was raised by his stepmother who had remarried a school teacher. Adolphe studied at the primary school in Pierrefonds and then at the College of Villers-Cotterêts. He worked in the family business by delivering groceries, and at 13 chose to be apprenticed to a farrier/blacksmith.
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