Faucher was born at Limoges, Haute-Vienne. When he was nine years old the family moved to Toulouse, where the boy was sent to school. His parents were separated in 1816, and Léon Faucher, who resisted his father's attempts to put him to a trade, helped to support himself and his mother during the rest of his school career by designing embroidery and needlework. As a private tutor in Paris he continued his studies in the direction of archaeology and history, but with the revolution of 1830 he was drawn into active political journalism on the Liberal side. He was on the staff of the "Temps" from 1830 to 1833, when he became editor of the "Constitutionnel" for a short time. A Sunday journal of his own, "Le Bien public", proved a disastrous financial failure; and his political independence having caused his retirement from the "Constitutionnel", he joined in 1834 "Le Courrier français", of which he was editor from 1839 until 1842, when the paper changed hands.