He was born at
Arras. He became a priest in the
order of the Oratory, and professor of rhetoric at
Beaune. He adopted revolutionary ideas, and became a
curé of the
Constitutional Church in the department of
Pas-de-Calais, where he was later elected as a député suppléant to the convention. He became
maire of Arras and administrateur of Pas-de-Calais, and on 2 July 1793 took his seat in the convention. He was sent as a representative on missions into the departments of the
Somme and Pas-de-Calais, where he showed great severity in dealing with offences against revolutionaries (8th
Brumaire, year II. to 22nd
Messidor, year II.; i.e. 29 October 1793 to 10 July 1794). In consequence, during the reaction which followed the 9th
Thermidor (27 July 1794) he was arrested on the 22nd Messidor, year III. (10 July 1795). He was tried before the criminal tribunal of the Somme, condemned to death for abuse of his power during his mission, and executed at
Amiens on the 24th
Vendémiaire in the year IV. (10 October 1795). Whatever Le Bon's offences, his condemnation was to a great extent due to the violent attacks of one of his political enemies,
Armand-Joseph Guffroy; and it is only just to remember that it was owing to his courage that the town of
Cambrai was saved from falling into the hands of the Austrians. His son,
Émile Le Bon, published a ''Histoire de Joseph Le Bon et des tribunaux révolutionnaires d'Arras et de Cambrai'' (2nd edition 2 vols., Arras, 1864). ==Victims==