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Timeline of Mauritian Settlers in South Africa
Leaving Mauritius - By the 1890s, Mauritius had long forgotten the sugar-fuelled prosperity of the 1840s. The opening of the Suez Canal meant that it was no longer near any major trade routes. The price of sugar had fallen due to increased competition. The island was badly overpopulated, subject to frequent epidemics of Cholera and other diseases, which ran wild through the slums in which many of the former slaves and indentured labourers lived.
Several particularly severe cyclones battered the island in the 1890s, causing great damage to crops and buildings. The French (Franco-Mauritian) community remained wealthy and tight-knit, and exercised tight control over almost all aspects of the government and business of Mauritius. They tended to move out of the crowded and unhealthy cities and up to their estates on the plateau. But even here there was trouble – large families were the norm, and there was no spare land and few suitable jobs for younger sons and daughters.
The result was a huge migration of Franco-Mauritians around the world in search of new opportunities. Some went to France or England, some to Argentina, and some to Australia. But most went to nearby South Africa.
http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/pfrancis/tree/Mauritius.pdf
Mauritius was the source of a trickle of immigrants after 1843. The flow increased in 1850 when about 50 Mauritians arrived with the intention of trying sugar growing on the Natal coast. An 1854 arrival from the island, James Renault Saunders, was the founder of one of Natal’s leading families in the sugar industry – the Saunders of Tongaat.
Shelagh Spencer
http://shelaghspencer.com/influence/''
One scholar who has contributed substantially to the literature on Durban’s coloured population is Dickie-Clark, author of The Marginal Situation: A Sociological Study of a Coloured Group. Dickie-Clark’s work argues coloureds in Durban do have in some respects a uniquely Durban history, and have, as a result, formed a different sense of identity and idea of their place within the broader South African society.
The earliest people who would eventually become coloured in Durban were products of relationships between the first British settlers, those who came with Lieutenant Farewell in 1824, and natives.
The next group arrived in Durban in 1850 from Mauritius; about 50 immigrants from the island moved to Natal in search of economic gain from the sugar industry. They were skilled artisans, spoke French, and practiced Catholicism. About 15 years later another group arrived in Durban, though this one was from St. Helena. Like the Mauritians they were mostly skilled artisans, though they spoke English and were Protestant.19 Both Dickie-Clarks’ study and S. Rankin’s “A Pilot Study Assessing the Problems facing the “Coloured” community of the Duban Metropolitan area,” are very explicit in stating the Mauritians and the St. Helanans were already “westernized” upon their arrival in Natal, and thus were seen as whites, at least legally, for many years.
Though the Mauritians, Helenans, and those of Euro-African descent eventually formed the race coloured, it is not clear how and when these people assumed this identity. Perhaps it was the movement of ideas and peoples from the Cape colony, where a coloured group had existed since the 17th century and saw considerable consolidation of that identity in the 19th century that began to solidify the identity of Durban’s EuroAfrican, Mauritian, and Helenan population as coloured.
Olivia Greene
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1840...
List of settlers that moved from Mauritius to South Africa.
Natal
- Azor, Henri (1844 - 1894) born in Port Louis, Mauritius. It is highly probable that he was married to his wife, Marie Celinore Prosper, before 1866. Four of his six children were born in Mauritius and the young family immigrated to South Africa between 1879 - 1882. His profession was known as a stone mason at the time of his passing.
- Baya, Pierre Remy (1849 - 1930) from Port Louis, Mauritius. Immigrated to South Africa with his wife, Marie Anna Louisa Molliere (1858 - 1930, m.1884) and possibly first born daughter, Marie Josephine Baya (1884 - 1968) between 1884 - 1887. In his life, his occupation was last listed as a blacksmith. He was the father of 8 children with his wife.
- Bignoux, Pierre William (1846 - 1924) from probably Port Lous or Grand Port in Mauritius. He was the husband of Louise Armancine Laureau (1853 - 1925) (m. 11 May 1872 in Flacq District, Mauritius). The couple immigrated to South Africa between 1872 - 1880, afterwhich they had their 9 children (all born in the Natal Colony) between 1880 - 1893. According to his death notice, his occupation was within the sugar industry as a mill manager.
- de Charmoy, Oscar Louis René D'Emmerez (1855 - 1920) from Grand Port, Mauritius. He was the husband of Louise Augusta Bréard (1857 - 1925, m. 1878 in Plaines Wilhems, Mauritius). The couple had approximately four children that were all born in Plaines Wilhems, Mauritius. In his life, he was known as a medicual practitioner. This family surname has notable ties to the sugarcane industry in some capacity. See documents section of this project for reference to this family in Natalia No 48 Reviews A Sugar Farmers Son.
- de la Peyre, Charles George (1873 - 1948) from Mauritius. He was married to Jeanne --- in Pietermaritzburg, most likely before 1905. In his life in Natal, he worked for the Durban Corporation in the relief works department. When he passed, his four children are listed in his death notice.
- Desmarais, Jean Marie Joseph Lucien (1867 - 1930) from Port Louis, Mauritius. He was married to Marie Angèle Célina Bausse (1870 - 1937) before 1896 in Mauritius, although details remain to be seen at which location the marriage took place. His wife and him had approximately 5 children, with atleast 1 child being born in Mauritius. It is highly probable that the young family immigrated just before or during the turn of the century (i.e. before 1900 or around this time). Like most people at the time, he worked for the South African Railways before his passing. His known professional with the railways was as a draughtsman.
- Gilot, Jean Julius Leon (1847 - 1925) born in the vacinity of Pamplemousses, Mauritius and who was married to Marie Camille Emilie L'Amie in Port-Louis, Mauritius on 24 October 1877. It's estimated that the couple immigrated to Natal, South Africa before 1882. Details show that the couple had at least 7 children all born in Natal. The journey they took included but not limited to places such as Pietermaritzburg, Ladysmith and Durban. The family name was adapted later to Gillot, which still features prominently amongst descendants living in KwaZulu-Natal.
- Guyot, Jean Stanilas (1871 - 1919) born in Mauritius. There is no indication referenced online about the family of Guyot, but in his life his occupation was listed as a clerk. He was bachelor when he passed away at the age of 48.
- Thevenet, Marie Zoe (1864 - 1947) born in Mauritius. In her life she was married to Henri Gregoire (tbc - 1907, m. in Mauritius) where the couple had their 6 children before immigrating to South Africa from 1900. Details and particulars still need to be found to attest the family's immigration, but it is certainly presumed that they came to South Africa between 1900 and 1907.
- Loustau nee Belouguet, Seraphine (1818 - 1896) was born in Mauritius. In her life, she was married to Eugene Loustau (1821 - 1861). In a common law marriage which was conducted in 1837 likely in the Savanne, Mauritius, the couple had 7 children between the years 1838 - 1859 in the district of Savanne, Mauritius. After the passing of her husband likely to be in1861, she and her children immigrated to Natal probably for better working and lifestyle opportunities.
- Lavoipierre nee Cablé, Marie Julie Élise (1827 - 1885) was born in Port Louis, Mauritius and married to Pierre Théodore Lavoipierre (1814 - 1879) on 23 September 1846. Although some records indicate that Pierre perished on route to Durban in 1879, details show that Marie eventually settled with her family of children who were all born in Maurtius. The family's paternal heritage can be traced back to France. Their son, Joseph Hippolyte, who was named after his grandfather from France, boasts a large amount of descendants who traced their family line to their origins in Natal. Joseph was married to Marie Pauline Chevalier in Port Louis, Mauritius on 1 May 1872. The couple had at least 3 of their 12 children born in Mauritius before they immigrated to Durban between 1877 - 1878. Extensive details about the family can be read here.
- Parizot, Adelson (1854 - 1938) from Mauritius (possibly, within the area of Plaines Wilhems District) immigrated to South Africa in between 1879 - 1885. Him and his family lived in various areas that include Greyville and Greenwood Park. In his life, his profession is known as a Blacksmith and Farrier. He was the father of atleast 6 children with his wife, Marie Letitia La Rose (also from Mauritius). It should be noted that new evidence suggests that he changed his family name from Emilie to Parizot between 1885 - 1887* tbc.
- Pather, Poonoosamy Ruthnam (PR) (1895 - 1970) from Mauritius (possibly, within the area of Grand Port) immigrated to Natal, South Africa in 1903. It should be noted that his father made his first trip to Natal in 1891 and worked as a jeweller in Durban for a few years before returning to Mauritius (1). A full account of his life, work and family can be read on sahistory.org(1).
- Robert, Marie Arthur Pierre (1892-1952) born and raised in Curepipe, Plaines Wilhems, Mauritius. He married Marie Julie Marguerite le Breton (1902 - 1983) immigrated to Natal, South Africa with his wife and 11 children in the 1940s. They and their descendants went on to become one of the founding families of the North Coast sugar industry. More about the family and their descendants where published in a local newspaper in 2018 and can be read here. See documents section of this project for reference to this family in Natalia No 48 Reviews A Sugar Farmers Son.
Lys van immigrante van Mauritius na Suid-Afrika.
Resources
Additional Resources
The following research papers contain details regarding Mauritian communities in Natal:
The Franco-Mauritian community in South Africa, Antoine Bullier
Mauritian settlers in South Africa: Ethnicity and the experience of ‘Creole’ émigrés, c. 1875–1920, David Lincoln
A century of collecting data on race in south africa, Tom A Moultrie and Rob Dorrington
Coloured Identity in the Rainbow Nation: Historical Narratives of the Durban Coloured Community, Olivia Greene
An urban profile of a coloured community in Greenwood Park from the 1950's to the 1970's, Lynette Crysta-Lee Francis
Generational transmission of identity: a study of four women of colour, Aliya Vaid
The Culture Of The·· South African Sugarmill: The Impress Of The Sugarocracy, MD Lincoln, 1985
Additional Online Resources
- Cercle de Généalogie Maurice-Rodrigues: (birth, baptism, death, marriage) https://www.cgmrgenealogie.org/actes/index.php
- Mauritius Online Genealogy Records: (external websites) https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Mauritius_Online_Genealogy_Rec...
- Mauritius Archives and Libraries: (archive enquiries) https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Mauritius_Archives_and_Libraries
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