Jean Martell (1694–1753) founded the French

cognac Cognac ( , also , ) is a variety of brandy named after the commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding wine-growing region in the departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime. Cognac production falls under French appella ...

distillery Martell. The company is based in the department of Charente and is nearly three centuries old – one of the oldest in France.

Biography

Son of Thomas and Martha Martell Héraud, Jean Martell was born in 1694 in the parish of St Brelade, on the Island of

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

where the family of merchants had settled in the 11th century. After working in Guernsey, he founded his trading house of spirits in 1715 at Gatebourse in Cognac, France, where he joined forces with a merchant from

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

, Jean Hot. Originally they bought casks of cognac and wine for export to the Channel Islands and Europe.{{cite web , url=https://www.diffordsguide.com/class-magazine/read-online/en/2011-08-30/page-10/martell , title=Martell Cognac , publisher=Difford's Guide , date=30 August 2011 The company went bankrupt and then was revived. From 1721 Martell was exporting more than 200,000 litres of cognac to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, with the Duke of Orléans his most prestigious client, soon followed by

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

and

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

. In 1726, he married Jeanne Brunet, daughter of a Cognac merchant, then in 1737, married his second wife, Rachel Lallemand, who was from a family of traders in Charente. At this time, he bought land along the Charente river where he developed his company. Martell sold wines and spirits to the countries of northern Europe (England, the Netherlands, Germany) and to the colonies of North America. In 1869, his descendants, who took over and expanded the Martell business, established branches in the English factories of

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

and Canton.

References

Bibliography

* ''Les Traces de la Nouvelle-France : au Québec et en Poitou-Charentes'', by Marc St-Hilaire, Presses de l'Université Laval, 2008 * ''La Naissance d'une dynastie du cognac Richard Hennessy 1727 - 1800'', by Monique Le Tac * ''Le Choix de Cognac: l'établissement des négociants irlandais en eau-de-vie au XVIIIe siècle'', by

Louis Cullen Louis Michael Cullen (born 1932) is an Irish diplomat, academic, historian, author and Japanologist.Jersey businesspeople History of the Channel Islands Cognac

Biography

See also

References

Bibliography