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

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many 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. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

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 approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

– now known as the

French overseas department The overseas departments and regions of France (, ; DROM) are the five departments and regions of the French Republic which are located outside European France (also known as "metropolitan France"). These overseas entities have exactly the same ...

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

– from May 1838 to October 1841.Database Entry: Réunion
(from the worldstatesmen.org website)
(in French, due to the scarcity of detailed English sources)

History

Early career

Born in Verneuil-sur-Seine, as a promising young nobleman, he received his first military commission as a sub-lieutenant at the age of six (not totally unheard of at the time) and was sent by his family to a friend at Brest during the upheavals of the French Revolution. 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 flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

rank during the wars of the First Empire, he became commander of the ''

École Navale École or Ecole 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 * Éco ...

'' (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 Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

-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 regard 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) of the Indian Ocean island of Réunion, which is an overseas department and region of France. The first settlement of the area took place in 1829 after a cyclone had devast ...

. 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 islan ...

is named after him, as is Hell-Ville on Nosy-Be,

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

(there is also a

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

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 (, plural , both ) in France is the State's representative in a department or region. Regional prefects are ''ex officio'' the departmental prefects of the regional prefecture. Prefects are tasked with upholding the law in the departme ...

Maritime de

Cherbourg Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...

''. Later on, he was elected the

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

member of the ''

Chambre des députés The Chamber of Deputies (, ) was the lower house of parliament in France at various times in the 19th and 20th centuries: * 1814–1848 during the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy, the Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the Fr ...

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

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...

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

cartography Cartography (; from , '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 imagined reality) can ...

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