St Hillaire Begorrat (born Mary Martin Hillaire; 1759–1851) was a Martinique-born Trinidadian planter and early patron of calypso.[1]
Early life
editBegorrat was born in Martinique, one of nine children born to Pierre Begorrat, a French merchant originally from La Rochelle, and his wife Anne Tournelliers. Begorrat was educated in La Rochelle where family tradition says he studied studied engineering.[fn 1][1]: 6–7
He returned to Martinique in 1781 where he became a planter and slave-holder. His republican sympathies led him to leave Martinique in 1784 for Venezuela.[2]: 80–82
Notes
edit- ^ Anthony De Verteuil reports that Sylvester Devenish, the husband of Begorrat's granddaughter, refers to him as "an engineer from La Rochelle", but that no university existed in La Rochelle at the time at which he could have studied medicine.
References
edit- ^ a b De Verteuil, Anthony (1987). A history of Diego Martin, 1784-1884: Begorrat--Brunton. Port of Spain: Paria Publishing Company. ISBN 976-8054-10-7. OCLC 23766119.
- ^ Candlin, Kit (2012). The last Caribbean frontier, 1795-1815. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-35408-1. OCLC 782988574.