The Bel Ombre Rebellion : Indian convicts in Mauritius, 1815 - 53

On 13 August 1817, sixteen Indian convicts were brought before the Tribunal de Première Instance, at this time the principal Court of Justice in Mauritius. They faced two charges. The first was desertion from the Bel Ombre estate, in the southern Savanne district, where they were employed as plantation hands. The second was armed resistance to arrest. The convicts were named as: Bessharut Kan, Jhunkoo, Jowaher, Ruttunah, Kéhurée, Kunnye, Maumray, Mooteeah, Sadut Khan, Mewashee, Bessarat, Kinaour, Kallouah, Myseraly, Maddow and Karam Khan. Called as witnesses were the following men: William Pyne, a Sub-Lieutenant in the 56th Regiment and Commander of Post Jacoté, near Bel Ombre; Chamere Dumbas and a Mr MacCulloch, both soldiers in the 56th Regiment; Louis Blancard, owner of the Bel Ombre plantation and Commissioner of Police in Savanne district; Pyrame, a Mozambican slave watchman on the Bel Ombre estate; Figaro and Jaffala, labouring Mozambican slaves at Bel Ombre; William Holmes, a European overseer on the estate; and, the Medical Officer Jean Louis Denoyeur. William Holland, a Corporal in the 22nd Regiment and overseer of convicts, acted as interpreter, between what was described as ‘Indienne’, Creole and French, the language of the court. And so the colonial curtain was raised on an unprecedented convict drama.