François-Auguste Perrinon (August 28, 1812January 1, 1861) was an Afro-Caribbean French military officer, politician and abolitionist.Biography on the website of the French National Assembly of France http://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/sycomore/fiche/%28num_dept%29/11004#prettyPhoto Perrinon was born at

Saint-Pierre, Martinique Saint-Pierre (, ; ; Martinican Creole: ) is a town and commune of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique, founded in 1635 by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc. Before the total destruction of Saint-Pierre by a volcanic eruption in 1902, it ...

from a free black mother and a white father, who married in 1826. In 1832, he enrolled at the école polytechnique, the first Afro-descendent student to do so. Perrinon graduated in 1834 and chose to become a Marine Artillery Officer. He was promoted Captain in 1840, the same year he married Marguerite-Louise-Charlotte Télèphe, another Martiniquaise of mixed descent. In 1842, he was sent to the Caribbean as officer in the French garrison on the isle of

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

. Perrinon was promoted Major and awarded the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in 1847. He was of anti-slavery sympathy, and in 1847, in a pamphlet he authored entitled "Résultats d'expérience sur le travail des esclaves" ("The Slave-Labor Experience") describing events on the isle of

Saint Martin Saint Martin may refer to: People * Saint Martin of Tours (c. 316–397), Bishop of Tours, France * Saint Martin of Braga (c. 520–580), archbishop of Bracara Augusta in Gallaecia (now Braga in Portugal) * Pope Martin I (c. 595–655), bishop of R ...

, he argued that the work being performed by slaves at the time could just as well be performed by free people and at equal cost. A year later, he was appointed to the Commission for the Abolition of Slavery by

Victor Schœlcher Victor Schœlcher (; 22 July 1804 – 25 December 1893) was a French abolitionist, writer, politician and journalist, best known for his leading role in the End of slavery in France, abolition of slavery in France in 1848, during the French Secon ...

, Under-secretary of State of the Colonies in the new

Republican Government Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy or electoral democracy, is a types of democracy, type of democracy where elected delegates Representation (politics), represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearl ...

, and was sent to

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

as "Commissioner of Abolition", later becoming General Commissioner and holding that post from June to November 1848. In 1849, he was elected, along with

, deputy to the

French National Assembly The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

. The National Assembly was dissolved in the wake of

Napoléon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

's coup d'état of 2 December 1851. Perrinon then returned to the Caribbean to live on Saint Martin, where he was involved in operations in salt marshes. His refusal, in a letter of 18 April 1853, to take an oath of allegiance to Napoléon III resulted in his expulsion from the military. Perrinon died in 1861 in Saint Martin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perrinon, Francois 1812 births 1861 deaths 19th-century French military personnel École Polytechnique alumni Officers of the Legion of Honour French people of Guadeloupean descent French abolitionists Members of the National Legislative Assembly of the French Second Republic