M. and Mme A. de Miomandre

M. A. de Miomandre and his wife, Mme Jeanne de Miomandre, surfaced on the incubator exhibit scene in 1895 and were highly visible for about two years, then dropped from sight. Their primary site was the “Œuvre de la propagation des couveuses d’enfants,” a Paris-based infant-incubator enterprise initially at 158, avenue Parmentier and later at 8, avenue de la République, entirely independent of Alexandre Lion’s Œuvre maternelle des couveuses d’enfants. Its stated purpose was to popularize the couveuse beyond hospital maternités, through three means:

• a small private nursery in Paris, with couveuse rentals available;
• branches (succursales) in provincial cities;
• demonstration pavilions at regional expositions.

The enterprise was a family affair. A. de Miomandre and Gaston Gilles were both sons-in-law of M. Dessolins, a former contributor to the Journal de Rouen. Mme Gilles was Rouennaise by birth. The two wives were presumably sisters, and Mme Jeanne de Miomandre née Dessolins. The family tie to Rouen explains the Rouen branch of 1896. It also explains the warm coverage the enterprise received in the Journal de Rouen.

The information about the various efforts of the Miomandres is scanty and is fragmented across many locations and publications, so I have tried to organize it as best I can without having to break it into many small disconnected postings.

Public Record

• 1895. The Miomandres appeared in the Paris press in January 1895. They then exhibited at Angers (Jardin du Mail), Charleroi (through the Gilles couple) and Nantes (rue Lafayette), and opened a branch at Toulouse.
• 1896.
  • The Miomandres ran a branch at 20, rue d’Amiens, Rouen, from about the turn of the year.
  • They moved that installation into a pavilion at the Exposition nationale et coloniale de Rouen (16 May–17 Oct 1896), with Mme de Miomandre as directrice.
  • In November 1896 they opened a salle at 137, boulevard de la Liberté, Lille, directed by both founders.

The Œuvre received a silver medal at Angers and a Grand Prix at Charleroi in 1895. At Rouen it appears in neither the exhibitor catalogue nor the award list, which is consistent with a concession or attraction outside the official exhibitor structure.

Searches of RetroNews, Gallica, BelgicaPress and the digitized Journal de Rouen from 1890 to 1920 find the Miomandres active from January 1895 to November 1896. The last trace is a retrospective mention in L’Écho de la Vallée de Bray (Sept 17, 1898).

Chronology

The Venues

Paris

In January 1895 the press described a nursery in the couple’s “élégant appartement” at 158, avenue Parmentier:

• twelve couveuses at families’ disposal;
• graduated temperature, with infants in glass-lidded cradles;
• wet nurses vetted by “le médecin attaché à la maison,” who is not named;
• a “Salon des Couveuses d’enfants avec bébés vivants” open to visitors.

By November 1895 their home base had moved to 8, avenue de la République. The Journal de Rouen (22 Nov) gives it as “place de la République,” and a classified advertisement in La Nation as no. 8. The Œuvre also advertised “location de salle maternelle,” that is, rental of couveuse installations.

The Journal de Rouen (22 Nov) describes the operating model:

• weak infants collected from their birthplace in heated, padded cradles;
• daily supervision by a physician and a midwife;
• parents free to visit at any hour.

Toulouse

The Toulouse branch is attested twice: as created by June 1895 (Le Petit Courrier, 7 Jun, including the reproduced Tarnier letter), and as an existing succursale in November 1895 (Journal de Rouen, 22 Nov). No Toulouse press has been located.

Angers (Exposition de 1895, Jardin du Mail)

The pavilion. A “réduction” of the Paris establishment, in the Jardin du Mail near the Tour Rochereau. It showed several couveuse models, gavage equipment, a balance, a milk sterilizer and feeding bottles.

Medical support

• Drs Guichard fils, Monprofit and Quintard visited with midwives.
• Monprofit lectured on 25 June. He called the couveuse a “médicament” for weak and premature infants only.
• He cited a figure of 66 deaths per 100 before couveuses against 3 with them.
• He described an infant of 2,150 g on 2 June who reached 2,550 g on 25 June.
• Dr Quintard is credited with care in the “dixième enfant” notice of 19 August.

Official status. The Œuvre was an official exhibitor. The exposition’s award list, published in Le Petit Courrier on 15 August, gives:

• a diplôme de médaille d’argent (no. 112, Premier groupe);
• the description “Couveuses de M. le docteur Tarnier, médecin en chef de la Maternité de Paris”;
• the location “allée du Mail, rue des Minimes.”

The surrounding entries are mutual-aid and provident societies, so the œuvre appears to have been judged as a philanthropic work rather than as medical apparatus.

Closing. The exposition was still running in late August. The pavilion may have continued under staff and Dr Quintard after the founders opened Nantes on 11 August, which would account for the August 19th notice.

Charleroi (1895)

The Charleroi pavilion was run by Gaston Gilles and his wife with Tarnier apparatus. It took local infants free of charge, and Argus credited it with 7 of 8 saved. It won a Grand Prix awarded to “de Miomandre et Gilles à Paris.”

The Journal de Rouen (22 Nov 1895) cites the Gazette de Charleroi of 18 Aug. It confirms that Gilles was a Dessolins son-in-law and that the pavilion belonged to the Œuvre. The full account is in the post about the Charleroi Exposition.

Nantes (1, rue Lafayette, 1895)

This was a shop-front exhibit with four or five couveuses, open from 11 August to early December. It displayed a survival chart by gestational age, as promotional material.

The apparatus was glass boxes heated by hot water or gas, with an electric temperature alarm credited to M. de Miomandre. An entry fee paid the rent, and a collection box went toward couveuses for the Bureau de bienfaisance.

Rouen (1896)

The branch. The Journal de Rouen of 4 Jan 1896 describes a branch “que vient d’établir à Rouen” at 20, rue d’Amiens, under “la direction même des fondateurs de l’œuvre, M. et Mme de Miomandre.” Its equipment:

• a berceau-couveuse designed by M. A. de Miomandre: an ordinary-looking cradle with curtains and a crystal lid, its heating concealed beneath;
• heated, padded transport cradles;
• a balance and a “téterelle bi-aspiratrice”;
• gavage by tube, with the doctor’s prescription chalked on a slate by each cradle;
• an automatic electric alarm for temperature change.

On 11 January the first infant, a seven-month premature, was in residence.

Planning. On 22 Nov 1895 the paper announced the Miomandre’s intention to have a “pavillon d’expérience et de démonstration” at the Rouen exposition. On 5 Dec it reported that the conseil supérieur had reserved a site in the Champ-de-Mars gardens. That notice cites “Bordeaux … Lyon et … Charleroi” as precedents. Bordeaux and Lyon were Lion’s exhibits and Charleroi was Miomandre’s, so the press was treating them as one cause.

The Pavilion

• Siting. Beside the village nègre, near the Cinématographe (26 Apr). Dubosc (11 Oct) describes a modest pavilion backing onto the village’s earthen wall. The 22 May notice places it opposite the Union des Femmes de France ambulance tents, beside the Société de secours aux blessés militaires.
• Opening. The couple “ont transporté à l’Exposition leur ancien établissement de la rue d’Amiens” (22 May).
• First infants. Two prematures in residence since the opening:
  • born at 7 months: 1,190 g when taken, 1,400 g on 22 May;
  • born at 8 months: 1,790 g, then 1,832 g after 12 days.
• Admission. 50 centimes, with the couple explaining the apparatus to visitors in person.

Fire of 19 August 1896. A gas ramp set fire to the thatch at the village nègre entrance, and the flames threatened the Société de secours tent and the couveuses. “Mme de Miomandre, directrice des Couveuses,” had the pavilion cleared. M. Blouet, son of the harbour commander, carried the infants wrapped in blankets to the Union des Femmes de France tent (Journal de Rouen, 20 Aug).

Georges Dubosc’s Feature (11 Oct 1896)

• Credits the pavilion to “l’initiative de M. et Mme de Miomandre.”
• Says that “au pavillon de l’Exposition on peut en apprécier plusieurs types.”
• Describes daily weighing, home collection in padded heated cradles, and graphic scales and Paris maternité statistics posted at the entrance.
• Results since the opening: 11 infants, 2 deaths (one from a “fluxion de poitrine”), 3 present, including “le petit Robert,” born at seven months.
• Its apparatus survey names “la couveuse Lion” only as a comparison model, not as an operator.
• The Rouen Hospice-Général maternité figures in the same article (284 infants in couveuses, 84% survival) belong to the hospital, not the œuvre.
• The illustrations are discussed under Apparatus below.

Official record.

• Lion is registered in Classe 9 of the exhibitor catalogue (no. 296) and listed hors concours at his own request.
• The Miomandres do not appear in the award list.
• The relationship between Lion’s registration and the Miomandre pavilion is treated in the Rouen post.

Retrospective. L’Écho de la Vallée de Bray (17 Sept 1898) recalls the pavilion “que dirigeait, avec un zèle absolu Mme Jeanne de Miomandre, en 1896, à l’Exposition de Rouen.” It reprints a remedy for infant diarrhoea and cholérine that she had sent to the Rouen papers, attributed to Auvard:

A teaspoon was to be given every half hour, with all feeding stopped during treatment.

Lille (1896)

A few days before November 20, 1896, the Œuvre opened a salle maternelle at 137, boulevard de la Liberté, Lille, under M. and Mme de Miomandre.

• About six couveuses of different models, and cradles for collecting infants from home.
• First residents: twin boys born at seven months to a “facteur des Postes”: Jules (1,390 g) and Henri (1,290 g).
• They were cared for by Mme de Miomandre from the previous Tuesday, in a single couveuse at 30°, and breastfed hourly.

How long the salle ran is not known. It opened about a month after the Rouen exposition closed.

The Operators

• M. A. de Miomandre. Director of the œuvre in Paris; first name unknown.
  • Son-in-law of M. Dessolins.
  • Credited with the electric alarm and heating installations (Nantes) and the cradle-form couveuse (Rouen).
  • Earlier lessee of the Lac Fetzara hunt near Bône.
  • Co-director at Lille.
• Mme Jeanne de Miomandre.
  • Called “fondatrice” in the 1895 certificate and “directrice des Couveuses” at Rouen in 1896.
  • Consistently presented as the hands-on carer, at Angers, Rouen and Lille.
• M. and Mme Gaston Gilles. He was the second Dessolins son-in-law; she was Rouennaise. They operated the Charleroi pavilion.
• M. Dessolins. A former Journal de Rouen contributor and the family link to Rouen.
• Physicians
  • Monprofit and Quintard at Angers; Guichard fils as an Angers visitor.
  • Unnamed house physicians in Paris and at the branches.
  • Tarnier appears only through a reproduced letter and the Angers exhibit description.
• Senator Bisseuil. Quoted only on the couveuse cause in general. No specific patronage of the œuvre is shown.

Apparatus

• Tarnier. Stated officially in the Angers award list (“Couveuses de M. le docteur Tarnier”), and by Le Réveil Bônois (Angers) and Argus (Charleroi).
• Auvard. Named in the April 1895 testimonial. The Auvard remedy is attributed to Mme de Miomandre.
• Glass vitrine type. Dubosc’s feature (Journal de Rouen, 11 Oct 1896) describes, and probably depicts as installed in the Rouen pavilion, a square glass vitrine on a metal frame with castors:
  • The infant lay on a glass plate above a water reservoir (bouillotte), filled through an external funnel and drained by a tap.
  • It was heated by a gas-fired thermosiphon.
  • The text also mentions an automatic Roux regulator, an internal thermometer and an electric alarm.
  • The framed charts on the wall in the sketch fit his description of graphic scales posted at the pavilion, but a generic illustration can’t be ruled out.
  • This is a modified Tarnier/Auvard-lineage cabinet, of the same family as the later “modified Tarnier/Auvard/Budin” cabinets seen at Luna Park Paris, Ehrlich’s Brussels 1935 exhibit and the Mellin’s Food Crystal Palace exhibit. Comparing the silhouettes directly may help identify the manufacturer.
• Miomandre cradle-couveuse. Dubosc distinguishes the Miomandres’ own design: a suspended cradle with white and pink curtains and a crystal lid, its heating “dissimulé dans la partie inférieure de sa corbeille.” It is probably shown in the article’s heading vignette, and corresponds to the berceau-couveuse described at rue d’Amiens (4 Jan 1896).
• Electric alarm and heating arrangements. Credited to M. de Miomandre at Nantes in 1895.
• Several models in use. The Rouen pavilion showed “plusieurs types,” and the Lille salle (Nov 1896) “une demi-douzaine de couveuses de différents modèles.”

From the available evidence, it appears that the Miomandre exhibits always variants of the Tarnier and Auvard incubators, adapted by M. de Miomandre. They never used Lion’s system.

Sources

Consulted via RetroNews, Gallica (BnF), BelgicaPress (KBR) and the Archives départementales de la Seine-Maritime (Journal de Rouen, archivesdepartementales76.net), October 2026. Page numbers not recorded unless stated.

Paris Press

• Paul Marcel, “Variété: Sauvons nos bébés,” L’Estafette (Paris), 7 Jan 1895. Sympathetic feature; 158, avenue Parmentier.
• Untitled notice, Gil Blas (Paris), 9 Jan 1895. Promotional; “Salon des Couveuses d’enfants avec bébés vivants.”
• Classified advertisement, “Couveuses d’enfants … Location de salle maternelle … 8, avenue de la République,” La Nation (Paris), 12, 14 and 16 Nov 1895. Commercial; unsigned, attributed to the œuvre by address.

Angers Press (Le Petit Courrier, Angers)

• “A travers l’Exposition: Couveuses d’enfants,” 7 Jun 1895. Promotional feature. Reproduces the “Docteur J. Tarnier” letter (authenticity unverified); Bisseuil footnote.
• “Couveuses d’enfants,” 15 Jun 1895. Brief notice.
• “Les Couveuses d’enfants,” 22 Jun 1895. Lecture announcement.
• “Conférence sur les Couveuses d’enfants,” 25 Jun 1895. Lecture reminder.
• “Les Couveuses d’enfants,” 27 Jun 1895. Report of Dr Monprofit’s lecture; a physician’s statements relayed by the press.
• “L’Exposition de 1895: Les Couveuses d’enfants,” 30 Jun 1895. Brief notice.
• “L’Exposition de 1895: Liste des Récompenses, Premier groupe (Suite),” 15 Aug 1895. Official award information as published in the press. No. 112, Œuvre de la propagation des Couveuses d’enfants, Paris, 158, avenue Parmentier: diplôme de médaille d’argent; “Couveuses de M. le docteur Tarnier”; allée du Mail, rue des Minimes.
• “Les Couveuses d’enfants,” 19 Aug 1895. “Dixième enfant”; Dr Quintard. Date to verify.

Algerian Press

• “Les couveuses d’enfants,” Le Réveil Bônois (Bône), 22 Jun 1895. Reprints an Angers paper; Lac Fetzara note; Tarnier apparatus.

Nantes Press (Le Phare de la Loire, Nantes)

• “Les couveuses d’enfants: Une exposition à Nantes,” 29 Jul 1895. Feature drawing on the operators’ account.
• “Les couveuses d’enfants,” 8 Aug 1895. Opening announcement.
• “Les couveuses d’enfants: L’exposition de la rue Lafayette,” 17 Aug 1895. Survival chart (promotional); electric alarm credited to Miomandre.
• A. de Miomandre, letter, “Les couveuses d’enfants,” 1 Dec 1895. Primary; the operator’s own statement.

Charleroi Press (Gazette de Charleroi; full list in the Charleroi draft)

• Organizers’ column, 22 Apr 1895: negotiations with the Paris “Direction des couveuses d’enfants.”
• Argus, “Revue de l’Exposition IV,” 18 Aug 1895: Gilles–Miomandre relationship; Tarnier apparatus.
• “Liste des récompenses (Suite),” 19 Sep 1895: Grand Prix to “de Miomandre et Gilles à Paris.” Official award information as published by the organizers.

Rouen Press (Journal de Rouen, Archives départementales de la Seine-Maritime)

Caveat: Dessolins, father-in-law of both operators, was a former contributor, so the coverage is sympathetic and partly drawn from the œuvre’s own material.

• “Chronique locale: Les Couveuses d’Enfants,” 22 Nov 1895. Family relationships; seat moved from Parmentier to République; Toulouse branch; Rouen plans. Reproduces the “Vicomtesse de X” certificate of 19 Apr 1895 (promotional testimonial).
• “L’Exposition de Rouen 1896,” 5 Dec 1895. Conseil supérieur reserves the couveuse site.
• “Le Sauvetage de l’Enfance,” 4 Jan 1896. Rouen branch at 20, rue d’Amiens; Miomandre’s berceau-couveuse and equipment.
• Untitled notice, 11 Jan 1896. First infant at rue d’Amiens.
• “Chronique locale: L’Exposition de Rouen: Les travaux,” 26 Apr 1896. Pavilion beside the village nègre.
• “Chronique locale: A l’Exposition,” 22 May 1896. Transfer of the rue d’Amiens establishment; two infants; 50 c admission.
• “A l’Exposition,” 20 Aug 1896. Fire of 19 Aug; “Mme de Miomandre, directrice des Couveuses.”
• Georges Dubosc, “Par ci, Par là: Les couveuses d’enfants,” 11 Oct 1896. Illustrated feature, with a sketch of a gas-heated glass vitrine couveuse (probably the Rouen pavilion interior) and a heading vignette of a curtained cradle-couveuse. 11 infants, 2 deaths; Lion named only as an apparatus comparison.

Lille Press

• “L’Œuvre des couveuses d’enfants,” Le Grand Écho du Nord (Lille), 20 Nov 1896. Opening of the Lille salle at 137, boulevard de la Liberté; twins Jules and Henri.

Seine-Inférieure Press

• Untitled notice, L’Écho de la Vallée de Bray, 17 Sep 1898. Retrospective on Mme Jeanne de Miomandre’s direction of the Rouen 1896 couveuse pavilion; reprints the Auvard remedy she sent to the Rouen papers.

Official Sources (Rouen)

• Catalogue officiel de l’Exposition nationale et coloniale, Rouen 1896, Paris, Imp. Lemercier, [1896], p. 107, no. 296 (Lion). Miomandre not located.
• Catalogue officiel: Liste des récompenses, 2nd ed., Rouen, Ancienne Imprimerie Ch.-F. Lapierre, 1896, p. 42, Classe 9 (Médecine, Chirurgie, Hygiène): Lion hors concours “sur leur demande.” Miomandre, Gilles and couveuses not listed.

French primary sources were machine-translated, then checked against the originals and edited by the author. Portions of this page were drafted with machine assistance; the final text was reviewed, verified, and edited by the author. Click here to learn more.

Last Updated on 10/24/26