Ham (; pcd, Hin) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the Somme

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost Regions of France, region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its Prefectu ...

, northern France.

Geography

Ham is situated on the D930 and D937 crossroads, some southwest of Saint-Quentin, in the far southeast of the department, near the border with the department of the

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.Ham (Somme) station Ham is a railway station located in the commune of Muille-Villette near Ham, Somme, Ham in the Somme (department), Somme department, France. The station is served by TER Hauts-de-France trains from Amiens station, Amiens to Laon and to Saint-Quen ...

has rail connections to Amiens, Saint-Quentin and Laon. The nearby villages of Estouilly and Saint-Sulpice joined the commune of Ham in 1965 and 1966 respectively.

Population

The population data given in the table and graph below for 1962 and earlier refer to the commune of Ham excluding Estouilly and Saint-Sulpice.

History

Mentioned for the first time in 932 as a possession of the

seigneur ''Seigneur'' is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. A seigneur refers to the person or collective who owned a ''seigneurie'' (or ...

Erard, junior member of the Counts of Ponthieu. The town was later conquered by the Counts of Vermandois in the 12th century. In the 14th century it was owned by a family from Ham itself. From April 7 to June 3, 1917, Ham was home to the

Lafayette Escadrille The La Fayette Escadrille (french: Escadrille de La Fayette) was the name of the French Air Force unit escadrille N 124 during the First World War (1914–1918). This escadrille of the ''Aéronautique Militaire'' was composed largely of Ameri ...

The Castle of Ham

The first stone ramparts were put up in the 13th century by the local nobleman, Odon IV.
In the 15th century, the

château A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Nowaday ...

was transformed into a formidable fortress by

John II of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny John II of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny (1392 – 5 January 1441) was a French nobleman and soldier, a younger son of John of Luxembourg, Lord of Beauvoir, and Marguerite of Enghien. His older brother Peter received his mother's fiefs, includin ...

In 1465, John's nephew, Louis of Luxembourg, built a huge

donjon A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

, 33m high, 33m in diameter with walls 11m thick''Ham, its castle and its prisoners'', Charles Gomart, 1864, réédition "La Vague Verte" en 2000.
In 1917, German forces blew up much of the château. All that remains are the entrance tower and vestiges of the

and ramparts.

Personalities

Francis de Bourbon, Count of St. Pol Francis I de Bourbon, Count of St. Pol, Duke of Estouteville (6 October 1491 – 1 September 1545), was a French prince and important military commander during the Italian Wars. Francis was the second son of Francis, Count of Vendôme and Mar ...

, Duke of Estouteville was born at Ham in 1491 * General Maximilien Sebastien Foy was born at Ham in 1775 *

Jacques Cassard Jacques Cassard (30 September 1679 – 1740) was a French naval officer and privateer. Biography Born on 30 September 1679 to a family of merchants of Nantes, Cassard began a career as a sailor at age 14 on the merchantmen owned by his fa ...

, intrepid sailor, was imprisoned at the château of Ham from 1726 to 1740. * Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, accused of plotting against the state, was imprisoned at the château of Ham from 1840 to 1846, when he escaped, disguised as a worker, carrying a plank on his shoulder. * Léon Accambray, French politician * Jean-Charles Peltier, physicist and meteorologist * Jean-Baptiste-Henri du Trousset de Valincourt (1643–1730), biographer of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

Twin towns

Eisfeld Eisfeld is a town and a municipality in the Hildburghausen (district), district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated on the river Werra, 12 km east of Hildburghausen, and 19 km north of Coburg. The former municipalit ...