Anne Chrétien Louis de Hell (25 August 1783 – 1864) was a French

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

and the governor of the ''Isle de Bourbon'' in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

– now known as the

French overseas department The overseas departments and regions of France (french: départements et régions d'outre-mer, ; ''DROM'') are departments of France that are outside metropolitan France, the European part of France. They have exactly the same status as mainlan ...

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

– from May 1838 to October 1841.Database Entry: Réunion
(from the worldstatesmen.org website)
(in

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, due to the scarcity of detailed English sources)

History

Early career

Born in

Verneuil-sur-Seine Verneuil-sur-Seine (, literally ''Verneuil on Seine'') is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. Population Education Schools include: Preschools: *École La Garenne *École du Chemin Vert *École ...

, as a promising young nobleman, he received his first military commission as a

sub-lieutenant Sub-lieutenant is usually a junior officer rank, used in armies, navies and air forces. In most armies, sub-lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. However, in Brazil, it is the highest non-commissioned rank, and in Spain, it is the second high ...

at the age of six (not totally unheard of at the time) and was sent by his family to a friend at

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

during the upheavals of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

. There, it was considered that it would be safest – and best for his education as a young officer – to send him on a warship. In this position as a junior officer, he apparently conducted himself well, and historians of the time as well as family documents praise his skill, intelligence and charisma. After rising up to

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

rank during the wars of the

First Empire First Empire may refer to: * First British Empire, sometimes used to describe the British Empire between 1583 and 1783 * First Bulgarian Empire (680–1018) *First French Empire (1804–1814/1815) * First German Empire or "First Reich", sometimes u ...

, he became commander of the ''

École Navale École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

'' (naval academy) at Brest (a mostly administrative post, as all actual training occurred at sea), before being named governor of the Isle de Bourbon.

Isle de Bourbon

During his short tenure on Reunion, one of his main challenges was to smooth the difficulties associated with the slave emancipation pushed forward by the French homeland. As a slave-based

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

-society, there was considerable resistance from the local landholder class, though de Hell apparently enjoyed some success in his transition work. At the time of his departure, he had the admiration of much of the local populace, a favor he apparently returned. He is known to have been especially impressed with the

Cirque de Salazie Salazie () is a volcanic caldera and commune (administrative division) in the department and region of Réunion. The first settlement of the area took place in 1829 after a cyclone had devastated the nearby coast, and the municipality of Salaz ...

. The Reunion village of

Hell-Bourg Hell-Bourg is a small village in the Salazie commune (administrative division) of the French overseas department of Réunion. It is the main community in the island's Cirque de Salazie, and is named for the respected former admiral and island ...

is named after him, as is

Hell-Ville Andoany, formerly and more commonly known as Hell-Ville (after Anne Chrétien Louis de Hell), is a city in Diana Region, Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, ...

Nosy-Be Nosy Be (formerly Nossi-bé and Nosse Be) is an island off the northwest coast of Madagascar. Nosy Be is Madagascar's largest and busiest tourism, tourist resort. It has an area of , and its population was 109,465 according to the provisional res ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

(there is also a

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

named after him, ''Strombus hellii'', discovered by Kiener in 1843).Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names - H
(from the Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory website)

Return to France

Returning to France, he received the post of the ''

Préfet A prefect (french: préfet, plural ''préfets'') in France is the state's representative in a department or region. Subprefects (French: ''sous-préfets'') are responsible for the subdivisions of departments, known as arrondissements. The offic ...

Maritime de

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

''. Later on, he was elected the

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

member of the ''

Chambre des députés Chamber of Deputies (french: Chambre des députés) was a parliamentary body in France in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: * 1814–1848 during the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy, the Chamber of Deputies was the lower house ...

'' and finally ''Président du conseil général'' (roughly analogous to provincial governor) of

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its low ...

. In 1847, he was named to lead the ''Direction générale des cartes et plans de la marine'' (naval

cartography Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

office). He died in 1864 at the age of 81 at his ancestral castle near Oberkirch, and even though over 20 years had gone by since his governorship, Réunion records note that a large number of locals turned out to mourn him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hell, Anne Chretien Louis de 1783 births 1864 deaths People from Yvelines Politicians from Île-de-France Members of the 6th Chamber of Deputies of the July Monarchy Governors of Réunion French naval commanders of the Napoleonic Wars