Ham (; ) is a commune in the

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France * Somme, Queensland, Australia * Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), ...

department in

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; ; ), also referred to in English as Upper France, is the northernmost region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its prefecture is Lille. ...

, 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 ( , ; ; ) is a French departments of France, department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne (river), Aisne. In 2020, it had a population of 529,374. Geography The department borders No ...

. Ham (Somme) station 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 A seigneur () or lord 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. The seigneur owned a seigneurie, seigneury, or lordship—a form of ...

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 () was the name of the French Air Force unit escadrille N 124 during the First World War (1914–1918). This escadrille of the History of the Armée de l'Air (1909–1942)#World War I (1914–1918), ''Aéronautique Mil ...

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 palace, 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 re ...

was transformed into a formidable fortress by John II of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny. In 1465, John's nephew, Louis of Luxembourg, built a huge

donjon A keep 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 castles that were fortified residenc ...

, 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, 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 f ...

, 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 LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

Twin towns

Eisfeld Eisfeld is a town and a municipality in the district of Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the n ...