Richard Lenoir was born in the area, in Epinay-sur-Odon in 1765. He worked as a mill owner during the “Consulat” and the first Empire (Napoléon Ier) and became the manager of a lot of factories. When he was young, he started trading English material called “Basin” which was then very fashionable. Richard Lenoir invented the method for making this fabrique and he started making it himself in Villers Bocage, instead of importing it. He was brilliant enough to continue printing the English brand name on his own material, so that, he could sell it at a higher price!
The surname Lenoir was not his real name but both names became so tightly linked that people always say Richard Lenoir, even when they mean Richard. He converted abbeys and convents into workshops; this is the case of the Abbey at Aunay-sur-Odon, where there were 600 workers.
Coming from a poor family, he was considered as he wealthiest man of the 19th century. A statue of him was erected in 1865. It used to stand in the North of the main street. But during the Occupation in 1944, they remove the statue to use its metal.
The Richard Lenoir cultural centre used to be a stable in the 1920s. It was extended and reorganized at the beginning of the 1990s, so that it could be used as a cultural centre. It has been named after Richard Lenoir.
Up until now we have been able to see how Villers Bocage was dynamic and lively in the past; but summer 1944 left an everlasting mark. If you want to know more about it, you can walk down the street as far as the main street, the rue Georges Clémenceau.
Testimony : Mr Queruel
