Abbeville was the birthplace of Rear Admiral Amédée Courbet (1827–85). His victories on land and at sea made him a national hero during the Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885). Courbet died in June 1885 in the Pescadores Islands. His body was brought back to France and buried in Abbeville on 1 September 1885 after a state funeral. Abbeville's old Haymarket Square (Place du Marché-au-Blé) was renamed Place de l'Amiral Courbet in July 1885. This was shortly after the news of Courbet's death reached France. A statue of Courbet was erected in the middle of the square at the end of the nineteenth century. The statue was damaged in a bombing raid during World War II.