François Louis Julien Simon Héron (1746-1796) was a French revolutionary and an agent of the

Committee of General Security The Committee of General Security () was a parliamentary committee of the French National Convention which acted as police agency during the French Revolution. Along with the Committee of Public Safety it oversaw the Reign of Terror. The Committe ...

Biography

Louis Heron was the son of Jean Heron (a tobacco farmer) and Judith Costar. He married Modeste-Anne-Jeanne Desbois, daughter of Étienne-Benoist Desbois and Modeste-Charlotte Helvant, on August 12, 1777 in

Cancale Cancale (; ; Gallo: ''Cauncall'') is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is known as the birthplace of Saint Jeanne Jugan. Population Inhabitants of Cancale are called ''Cancalais'' in French. T ...

. He became quartermaster to the Count of Artois before serving as a naval officer from 1778 to 1784. Lieutenant of the ''Sartine'' in 1782 (owned by Joseph-Denis Goguet, shipowner in

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...

), he sailed in May 1784 to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, with the mission of buying a million

piastre The piastre or piaster () is any of a number of units of currency. The term originates from the Italian for "thin metal plate". The name was applied to Spanish and Hispanic American pieces of eight, or pesos, by Venice, Venetian traders in the ...

s on behalf of Minister Calonne, this million corresponding to the debt of one million piastres owed by the Spanish government to Cabarrus and Lalanne of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

in September 1782. When he got back to France after the seven-month trip, the minister refused to grant him the compensation to which he thought he was entitled. During 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 ...

, he befriends

Jean-Paul Marat Jean-Paul Marat (; born Mara; 24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was a French political theorist, physician, and scientist. A journalist and politician during the French Revolution, he was a vigorous defender of the ''sans-culottes'', a radical ...

and participates to the most defining events, including the

Insurrection of 10 August 1792 The Insurrection of 10 August 1792 was a defining event of the French Revolution, when armed revolutionaries in Paris, increasingly in conflict with the French monarchy, stormed the Tuileries Palace. The conflict led France to abolish the monar ...

where he commanded the Marseille battalion. According to Gabriel Jérôme Sénar, Héron also partook to the

September Massacres The September Massacres were a series of killings of prisoners in Paris that occurred in 1792, from Sunday, 2 September until Thursday, 6 September, during the French Revolution. Between 1,176 and 1,614 people were killed by ''fédérés'', gua ...

References

Louis Blanc, Histoire de la Révolution française, tome 2, Librairie internationale, 1869, p. 603-604 rchivebr> H. Sueur et R., « Héron (Louis-Julien-Simon) », in Ferdinand Hoefer (dir.), Nouvelle biographie générale depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours, Paris, Firmin Didot frères, 1858, tome XXIV, p. 449-450 rchive
« Héron (François) », dans Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne, Louis-Gabriel Michaud, 1857, tome 19, p. 315-316 rchivebr> « Héron (François) », dans Biographie universelle ou Dictionnaire de tous les hommes qui se sont fait remarquer par leurs écrits, leurs actions, leurs talents, leurs vertus ou leurs crimes, Bruxelles, H. Ode, 1845, tome 9, p. 295-296 rchivebr> « Héron », dans Pierre Larousse (dir.), Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle, Paris, Société Larousse, 1872, tome 9, p. 241 rchivebr> « Héron (François) », dans Société des gens de Lettres, Dictionnaire historique, critique et bibliographique, vol. 13, Paris, Ménard & Desenne, 1822, p. 435
Albert Mathiez, « La vie de Héron racontée par lui-même », Annales historiques de la Révolution française, no 11, septembre-octobre 1925, p. 480-483 (lire en ligne rchive.
French revolutionaries French police officers 1746 births 1796 deaths People from Ille-et-Vilaine {{france-bio-stub