Anne O'Shiell (20 November 1720, Nantes – 30 June 1793, Nantes) was a French businesswoman.Patrick Clarke de Dromantin,
Les réfugiés jacobites dans la France du XVIIIe siècle
' She managed the major slave trade firm '' Grou et Michel'' in

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

from 1774 to 1793, which at that time was one of the most successful companies of its kind, making her a millionaire.

Life

Anne O'Shiell was the daughter of the Irish Jacobite exile and successful slave trade merchant

Luc O'Shiell Luc or LUC may refer to: Places * Luc, Hautes-Pyrénées, France, a commune * Luc, Lozère, France, a commune * Le Luc, France, a commune * Luč, Baranja, Croatia, a settlement People and fictional characters * Luc (given name) * Luc (surname) ...

(1677–1745) and Agnès Vanasse, and the sister of

Mary O'Shiell Mary O'Shiell (1715d. ''after'' 1745), was a French-Irish privateer shipowner and slave trader. She is a known figure in the history of Nantes, alongside her sisters Agnés O'Shiell and Anne O'Shiell.Éric Lhommeau et Karen Roberts, Guide du cim ...

and Agnès O'Shiell. Her family and their manor Manoir de la Placelière were the center of the

Irish of Nantes The expression ‘’Irish of Nantes’’ denotes a community formed in the 17th century and of great importance in the 18th century. It was originally composed of Jacobite political refugees from Ireland fleeing the Glorious Revolution of 168 ...

, and the manor was known as a gathering place for Jacobites. In 1741 she married the millionaire slave trader Guillaume Grou (1698–1774). Anne had no children. When her father died in 1745, she and her sisters Agnes and Mary inherited the Manoir de la Placelière, which was bought by Anne and her spouse in 1747. In 1755, her birth family was recognized as nobility by the French crown. When she was widowed in 1774, she inherited a vast fortune from her husband. She also inherited his slave trade firm, '' Grou et Michel'', one of the biggest companies in Nantes. Her firm was a big player in the Nantes slave trade at a time when Nantes was a major port in the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

. During the French Revolution, the slave trade was abolished. She died in June 1793, during the

Battle of Nantes The Battle of Nantes was a battle between Royalist and Republican French forces at Nantes on 29 June 1793 during the War in the Vendée The war in the Vendée (french: link=no, Guerre de Vendée) was a counter-revolution from 1793 to ...

. In November 1793, her fortune was confiscated by the revolutionary government.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oshiell, Anne 1720 births 1793 deaths 18th-century French businesspeople 18th-century French businesswomen French slave traders Women slave owners Women slave traders 18th-century slave traders