Zamor

Zamor was born in 1762[1] at the town of Chittagong in the state of Bengal (now Bangladesh). In 1773, when he was eleven years old, he was captured by British slave traders, who trafficked him into France via Madagascar and sold him to Louis XV of France. The king gave the young boy to his mistress Countess du Barry, and he was christened Louis-Benoit. The countess developed a liking for the boy and educated him.[3] Zamor developed a taste for literature and was inspired by the works of Rousseau. Until her death, the countess was under the incorrect impression that Zamor was African (although Zamor may have belonged to the Siddi ethnic group, which descend from the Bantu peoples of East Africa).[1]

Records of the period suggest that Zamor was extremely mischievous as a child.[4] She noted in her memoirs:

The second object of my regard was Zamor, a young African boy, full of intelligence and mischief; simple and independent in his nature, yet wild as his country. Zamor fancied himself the equal of all he met, scarcely deigning to acknowledge the king himself as his superior.

When the French Revolution broke out, Zamor took the side of the revolutionaries and joined the Jacobins. He began to detest Countess du Barry and deplored her lavish lifestyle. He also protested her repeated visits to England with the intention of retrieving her lost jewelry and warned her against protecting aristocrats. As an informant to the Committee of Public Safety, Zamor got the police to arrest the countess in 1792 on her return from one of her many visits to England. The countess, however, secured her release from jail and found out that the arrest was the handiwork of her page. She promptly dismissed Zamor from her service. Infuriated, Zamor became more vocal and open in his support for the revolution. He brought further charges against the countess, which eventually led to her arrest, trial and execution by guillotine. At the trial, Zamor gave Chittagong as his birthplace.

Soon after the execution of the countess, Zamor was arrested by the Girondins on suspicion of being an accomplice of the countess and a Jacobin. He was tried and imprisoned, but was able to secure his release. He then fled from France, reappearing only in 1815 after the fall of Napoleon. Zamor bought a house in Rue Maître-Albert, near the Latin Quarter of Paris, and spent a few years as a schoolteacher.

Zamor died in poverty on 7 February 1820[4] and was buried in Paris. His funeral reportedly had a very small attendance.

A two-page comic strip La Rue perdue (The Lost Street) was published in 1978, featuring Gil Jourdan, a detective created by Maurice Tillieux. Set in 1953, it has Jourdan trying to find out why a fake guillotine blade is hanging outside the door of a black, African friend. The person responsible turns out to be a man obsessed with Madame du Barry and is taking his anger at her death out on Jourdan's friend, who looks like Zamor. The action is set in Rue Maître Albert, where Zamor lived before his death.

In Marie Antoinette, a 2006 film, Madame du Barry (portrayed by Asia Argento) was shown in company of a nameless black servant boy, who most likely is Zamor.

• Reign of terror
• Jean Amilcar

• Gupta, Abhijit (March 11, 2008). "Child from Chittagong". The Telegraph.
• Sundarrajan, Saroja (January 18, 2003). "For liberty and fraternity". The Hindu:Young World.