Jenny d'Héricourt
Jenny d'Héricourt (9 September 1809 Besançon, France – 12 January 1875 Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, France), also Jenny P. d'Héricourt, was a feminist activist, writer, medical doctor and midwife. • Illustration — Jenny d'Héricourt She was born Jeanne-Marie-Fabienne Poinsard, in Besançon, France, to Protestant parents. After running a private girls' school, she married Gabriel Marie. However, they soon separated (divorce did not exist under French law at that time).
Also recorded as Félix Lamb
Jenny d'Héricourt

Naddoddr · CC0
- Born
- 1809
- Died
- 1875
- Nationality
- France
- Occupation
- writer · women's rights activist · midwife
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Jenny d'Héricourt (9 September 1809 Besançon, France – 12 January 1875 Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine, France), also Jenny P. d'Héricourt, was a feminist activist, writer, medical doctor and midwife. • Illustration — Jenny d'Héricourt She was born Jeanne-Marie-Fabienne Poinsard, in Besançon, France, to Protestant parents. After running a private girls' school, she married Gabriel Marie. However, they soon separated (divorce did not exist under French law at that time).
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Jenny d'Héricourt. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q59401 · wikipedia · Jenny d'Héricourt
In this article
Biography
D'Héricourt wrote her first novel, Le Fils du réprouvé ("The son of the reprobate")(1844), under the pseudonym Félix Lamb. She was an enthusiastic supporter of Étienne Cabet, the French socialist, and took part in the Revolution of 1848. She studied medicine privately in Paris in the 1850s, and later practiced midwifery in Paris and Chicago. She lived in the United States from 1863 to 1873 and was active in the feminist movement there also. D'Hericourt helped develop an unofficial international network of feminists during the first half of the 19th century. They provided each other with moral support and exchanged ideas. She also wrote an influential rebuttal to the sexist essays of the anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and historian Jules Michelet.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Acte de naissance 724 (vue 242/374, acte au centre de la page). Archives de Besançon. 10 septembre 1809.
- 2.POINSARD Jeanne-Marie, Fabienne, dite Jenny P. d’HÉRICOURT [Dictionnaire biographique du mouvement social francophone aux États-Unis] – Maitron.
- 3.Ancêtre commun : Jean Cuvier (1628-1675)
- 4.Michèle. Riot-Sarcey. Emancipation des femmes, 1848. Genèses. Sciences sociales et histoire. 194–200. 1992. 10.3406/genes.1992.1115. 2025-11-10.
- 5.Michèle. Riot-Sarcey. Emancipation des femmes, 1848. Genèses. Sciences sociales et histoire. 194–200. 1992. 10.3406/genes.1992.1115. 2025-05-16.
- 6.En 1874 sera créée la société pour l'amelioration du sort de la femme qui deviendra en 1886, la société pour l'amélioration du sort de la femme et la revendication de ses droits.
- 7.Besançon. Une statue de Jenny d’Héricourt Place de la Révolution. Doubs : toute l'info locale - Hebdo25. 2025-02-03.
- 8.Jenny P. d’Héricourt. La Femme affranchie : réponse à MM. Michelet, Proudhon, É. de Girardin, Legouvé, Comte et autres novateurs modernes. A. Lacroix, Van Meenen et. 1860.
- 9.Jenny P. d’Héricourt. M. Proudhon et la question des femmes. La Revue philosophique et religieuse. VI. décembre 1856. 5-15.
- 10.Article fr auteur1=Offen Karen Qui est Jenny P. d’Héricourt ? Une identité retrouvée. 1848 titre Révolutions et mutations au XIXe siècle 3 1987 87-100 e-issn=1777-5329 lire en https://doi.org/10.3406/r1848.1987.2775 consulté le=26 avril 2025 .
- 11.« Salle Jenny d'Héricourt - Lieu culturel du Crous », sur le site officiel de l'Université de Franche-Comté (consulté le ).
- 12.AUDIONAUTE-Tramway de Besançon Design Sonore. audionaute.com.
- 13.Sophie Courageot pour France 3 Franche-Comté, édition du : « Quatre femmes qui intriguent : quelle est cette nouvelle statue au cœur de Besançon ? » (consulté le ).
- 14.La féministe Jenny d'Héricourt mise à l'honneur par une statue, quatre femmes de Besançon ont servi de modèles. France 3 Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. 2025-09-02.
- 15.Jenny d'Héricourt a fréquenté l’école protestante qui se trouvait sur cette place.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 7
- Karen Offen, « Qui est Jenny P. d’Héricourt ? Une identité retrouvée » in, 1848. Révolutions et mutations au , numéro 3, 1987. .
- Alessandra Anteghini, Socialismo e femminismo nella Francia del secolo : Jenny d'Héricourt, Gênes, ECIG, 1988
- Theresa Wobbe & Claudia Honegger, Frauen in der Soziologie. Neun Portraits. Munich, Beck, 1998 (en allemand)
- Caroline Arni, « « La toute-puissance de la barbe » Jenny P. d’Héricourt et les novateurs modernes », Clio, numéro 13-2001
- Michel Antony Divers Articles et trames de conférences sur Jenny d'Héricourt disponibles dans le site https://acratie.eu/utopies-comtoises-plus-ou-moins-libertaires/
- Michel Antony Bibliographie générale sur Jenny d'Héricourt, https://www.acratie.eu/FTPUTOP/ANAR-MA-JENNY-BIBLIOGRAPHIE-G%C3%89N%C3%89RALE-2025.doc
- Michel Antony Jenny d’Héricourt, une grande figure du socialisme et du féminisme – Notes de lecture sur Jenny d’Héricourt « La femme affranchie » - Écrits de Jenny d’Héricourt (1809-1875) – Bibliographie générale sur Jenny d’Héricourt, Bulletin, Lure: SHAARL, n.45, p.118-141, 2026
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Jennifer SullivanAuthor
- Jennifer WeinerAuthor
- Jenny BerggrenAuthor
- Jenny Blicher-ClausenAuthor
- Jenny DiskiAuthor
- Jenny DownhamAuthor
- Jenny ErpenbeckAuthor
- Jenny EstradaAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Jenny d'Héricourt?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.