Fabre de La Martillière spent his whole career in the artillery and rose to general there. He died in Paris in March 1819, seventeen days after turning eighty-seven, which is a great age for an officer of that generation. The engraving settles a question that the reference works muddle by having him born in the Pas-de-Calais. Of the rank and the arm, on the other hand, not a word.
The story
Jean Fabre de La Martillière inspected the royal cannon foundry at Douai and improved the making of the guns there: in the eighteenth century an artilleryman made his name by technique before he made it under fire. A colonel in 1789, he commanded the artillery of the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees.
A general of division after his Catalan campaigns, he died in Paris on 27 March 1819, seventeen days after his eighty-seventh birthday — one of the longest lives recorded among the officers of his generation.
The grave in Division 39 is that of the Chamberland-Fabre de Lamartinière family: the family heading comes before the man, and his name follows — “né à Nesles le 10 mars 1732, décédé à Paris le 27 mars 1819”. The stone is exact to the day on the dates, and silent on the trade: neither the rank nor the artillery appears.
The grave
A family grave whose heading comes before the man: “Famille CHAMBERLAND, FABRE de LAMARTINIERE”. Then follows an inscription with the precision of a civil record: “Ici repose, Jean FABRE, comte de LA MARTILLIERE, né à Nesles le 10 mars 1732, décédé à Paris, le 27 mars 1819.” — Here rests Jean Fabre, Count of La Martillière, born at Nesles on 10 March 1732, died in Paris on 27 March 1819. It settles the question of his birthplace — Nesles, in the Pas-de-Calais — but says nothing of the artillery general he was.
On site, do not miss
The inscription gives Nesles, in the Pas-de-Calais, as his birthplace — which several reference works contradict — but says nothing of his rank or of the artillery.
Visitors' questions
Where is Fabre de La Martillière's grave?
In Division 39, chemin Masséna, first row. The stone carries the family name first — “Famille CHAMBERLAND, FABRE de LAMARTINIERE” — then his own, with his exact places and dates. He died in Paris in March 1819, at eighty-seven.
Marshal LefebvreWhere was he born?
At Nesles, in the Pas-de-Calais, on 10 March 1732 — as the inscription on his grave confirms. Some reference books make him a man of Nîmes: that is an error, and the stone puts it right.
Marshal PérignonHow old was he when he died?
Eighty-seven: born on 10 March 1732, he died on 27 March 1819, seventeen days after his birthday. It is one of the longest lives recorded among the officers of his generation.
François-Marie d’AbovilleWhat does his inscription say?
It is precise: “Ici repose, Jean FABRE, comte de LA MARTILLIERE, né à Nesles le 10 mars 1732, décédé à Paris, le 27 mars 1819.” What it does not mention is his rank, or the artillery.
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