Campan, Jeanne Louise Henriette
CAMPAN, JEANNE LOUISE HENRIETTE (1752-1822), French educator, the companion of Marie Antoinette, was born at Paris in 1752. Her father, whose name was Genest, was first clerk in the foreign office, and, although without fortune, placed her in the most cultivated society. At the age of fifteen she could speak English and Italian, and had gained so high a reputation for her accomplishments as to be appointed reader to the three daughters of Louis XV. At court she was a general favourite, and when she bestowed her hand upon M. Campan, son of the Secretary of the royal cabinet, the king gave her an annuity of 5000 livres as dowry. She was soon afterwards appointed first lady of the bedchamber by Marie Antoinette; and she continued to be her faithful attendant till she was forcibly separated from her at the sacking of the Tuileries on the 20th of June 1792. Madame Campan survived the dangers of the Terror, but after the 9th Thermidor finding herself almost penniless, and being thrown on her own resources by the illness of her husband, she bravely determined to support herself by establishing a school at St Germain. The institution prospered, and was patronized by Hortense de Beauharnais, whose influence led to the appointment of Madame Campan as superintendent of the academy founded by Napoleon at Ecouen for the education of the daughters and sisters of members of the Legion of Honour. This post she held till it was abolished at the restoration of the Bourbons, when she retired to Mantes, where she spent the rest of her life amid the kind attentions of affectionate friends, but saddened by the loss of her only son, and by the calumnies circulated on account of her connexion with the Bonapartes. She died in 1822, leaving valuable Mémoires sur la vie privée de Marie Antoinette, suivis de souvenirs et anecdotes historiques sur les règnes de Louis XIV.-XV. (Paris, 1823); a treatise De l'Education des Femmes; and one or two small didactic works, written in a clear and natural style. The most noteworthy thing in her educational system, and that which especially recommended it to Napoleon, was the place given to domestic economy in the education of girls. At Ecouen the pupils underwent a complete training in all branches of housework.
See Jules Flammermont, Les Mémoires de Madame de Campan (Paris, 1886), and histories of the time.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
