Charles Jean d'Hector

Charles Jean d'Hector, comte d'Hector (22 July 1722, Fontenay-le-Comte, France – 18 August 1808, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom) was a French aristocrat and naval officer. Losing his father at a young age, he soon entered the French Navy, starting his service during the Seven Years' War, notably at the battle of Quiberon Bay. Following that battle he and the chevalier de Ternay saved part of the French fleet which had taken refuge in the Vilaine estuary. He was promoted to capitaine de vaisseau then squadron commander at the start of the American Revolutionary War. Put in command of Brest and its naval force, he assisted the Naval Minister maréchal de Castries in his plans to reform the fleet. He was visited at Brest by the future Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and his family and at Cherbourg on an inspection by Louis XVI of France.

He ended his career at the rank of lieutenant general. He emigrated to Britain upon the French Revolution and - despite his lack of funds - raised a volunteer regiment known as the Régiment Hector ou Marine Royale. This took part in the Quiberon Expedition in 1795. He died in exile in England aged 86.

Life Early life The Hector family was a noble family originating in Quercy (now in Poitou) and it is first recorded in 1666. It owned the lordships of Tirpoil, Versigay, Marle, Beaumont and Closemont. He was born a sickly child and was speedily baptized in his birthplace since it was thought he would not survive the journey to church. His father, a naval officer, was killed in Canada in 1731. After attending primary school at Saint-Georges-de-Montaigu, In the aftermath of the battle of Quiberon Bay seven French ships of the line and four frigates took advantage of the tide to reach the estuary of the river Vilaine, where they took refuge. Edward Boscawen noted this and blockaded the entrance to the river. Brittany's governor the duc d'Aiguillon tasked the chevalier de Ternay with breaking the blockade, but de Ternay would only accept the mission if he was accompanied by the count of Hector. Together they managed to defeat Boscawen and break out the Brillant and the Éveillé. Although he was unable to influence its outcome, he was congratulated by the comte d'Orvillers. A few months later, on 4 May 1779, he was made chef d'escadre. He was then put in supreme command of the port of Brest on 23 December 1779.

The baronne d'Oberkirch visited Brest in June 1782 with the future Tsar Paul I and his wife Maria Feodorovna. There d'Hector informed her of these grudges. Neither Paul nor Louis XVI took attention to the complaints - de Castries invited d'Hector and commandant d'Albert de Rions to receive the king at Cherbourg and inform him about shipbuilding and the necessity of building of coastal defences in Normandy against the British. The royalist princes made him a vice admiral on 1 January 1792.

The corps was disbanded at the end of the campaign but re-formed in October 1794 in Britain, with d'Hector its colonel once again. He raised it from 600 sailors who had fled France and called it the Régiment Hector. It was sent to Brittany to assist the Quiberon Expedition but learnt of its failure on 21 July 1793 during its voyage out. D'Hector was now 73 and "had to renounce the hope of dying on the battlefield". He retired to a house near Reading, Berkshire and died there aged 86 on 18 August 1808.

Later assessments Constant Merland dans ses Biographie vendéennes (1884) dit de lui: