Adrien d'Épinay

Who was Adrien d'Épinay?

Antoine Zacharie Adrien d'Épinay, the son of Antoine Jean d’Épinay and Marie Marthe Barbe Blanc, was a lawyer and politician from Mauritius who at the beginning of the 19th century helped found the Société royale des Arts et des Sciences de l'île Maurice, the Bank of Mauritius and the first independent newspaper in Mauritius, Le Cernéen, after the Portuguese name for the island. He started his career at the bar in Port Louis in 1816.

He married Marguerite Le Breton de la Vieuville on 14 April 1817 in Flacq, and was the father of the sculptor Prosper d'Épinay, whose greatest work was undoubtedly the bronze statue of Adrien d'Épinay, unveiled on 26 September 1866 in the French East India Company garden at Port-Louis. Prosper also created statues of Mauritius Governor William Stevenson, Edward VII and his spouse Alexandra of Denmark.

On the death of Thomi Pitot, d’Épinay became the political leader and devoted his talents to the service of the island. He was criticised for opposing the abolition of slavery and for making personal representations to the British Government in London in 1831 on behalf of farmers and slave owners.