Adèle Hommaire de Hell

Jeanne Louise Adélaïde Hommaire de Hell née Hériot (1819–1883) was a French explorer and writer. From the mid-1830s, together with her husband, the geographer and engineer Xavier Hommaire de Hell, she undertook exploratory journeys to the Ottoman Empire, Moldavia, New Russia, the Caspian steppes, the Caucasus and Crimea. She is remembered above all for compiling detailed records of these journeys which were published from 1846 to 1868. She also documented her journey to Martinique where she visited her son in 1862.

Biography Born in 1819 in the Artois region of northern France, Jeanne Louise Adélaïde Hériot was brought up by her elder sister following her mother's early death. As her father was a schoolteacher, the family moved frequently as he took up posts in Franche-Comté, Bourbonnais and Auvergne. They later settled in Paris where she attended a school at Saint-Mandé.

Xavier Hommaire undertook a further journey to Persia but without Adèle. He died there of fever in August 1849. Thanks to his wife who completed the accounts of his travels and expanded his notes, Voyage en Turquie et en Perse was published in 1855.

In 1868, she travelled to Martinique where she visited her eldest son.

Adèle Hommaire de Hal died on 16 May 1883.

Selected publications