Adhémard Leclère

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Adhémard Leclère (1853–1917) was a French official who worked in Cambodia’s colonial administration, and he was also an economist, politician, and ethnologist. Growing up in a republican, anticlerical family, he became interested in socialism early on. He helped found and edit The Proletarian, a labour journal, and as a typographer he started Typographie Francaise, the official journal of French workers. He also contributed to several journals in France and abroad.

In 1886 Leclère became Résident (governor) in the French protectorate of Cambodia, serving in Kampot (1886–1890), Kratie-Sambor (1890–1894), Kratie, and finally Phnom Penh, where he was résident-maire from 1899 to 1903. In 1908 he was named inspector and adviser to the Résident Supérieure, the chief adviser to the Cambodian government, a role he held until 1911. He founded and was vice-president of the Ethnological Society of Paris, and wrote extensively on Cambodia’s language, customs, law, religion, and culture.