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George John Seaton
George John Seaton (born December 3, 1900, in France), was an English man who was sentenced to imprisonment on Devil's Island in French Guiana. Seaton was one of the last prisoners to escape the island before it was officially closed as a prison colony. After escaping his imprisonment, Seaton went into servitude for local farmers. His autobiography, published in the 1950s, details his experiences as a prisoner and freed man in French Guiana and was widely reviewed in both Britain and the United States. Early life Most details about Seaton's early life stem from his autobiography. Besides this recollection of childhood, there are no other records of Seaton in existence regarding his life before prison. Seaton was born on December 3, 1900, in France. He was born at 24 Avenue du Bois on the corner of the rue Chalgrin. His mother was Beatrice Seaton, and his father is unknown. His mother was young when she had Seaton, and she chose to leave him to be raised by his grandmother. His ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Devil's Island
The penal colony of Cayenne ( French: ''Bagne de Cayenne''), commonly known as Devil's Island (''Île du Diable''), was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953, in the Salvation Islands of French Guiana. Opened in 1852, the Devil's Island system received convicts from the Prison of St-Laurent-du-Maroni, who had been deported from all parts of the Second French Empire. It was notorious both for the staff's harsh treatment of detainees and the tropical climate and diseases that contributed to high mortality, with a death rate of 75 percent at its worst. Devil's Island was also notorious for being used for the exile of French political prisoners, with the most famous being Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who had been wrongly accused of spying for Germany. The Dreyfus affair was a scandal extending for several years in late 19th- and early 20th-century France. Excerpt from the ''People's Almanac'', posted at "trivia-library. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
