A N N I V E R S A R I E S
A N D
E V E N T S
MAHÉ DE LABOURDONNAIS
The stamp (60cs) portrays Mahé de Labourdonnais and the routes used between Mauritius and India.
Bertrand François Mahé de Labourdonnais was born on the 11 February 1699 at St. Malo, France. He started his career in the merchant navy at the age of ten. Later he joined the French East India Company and even worked for the King of Portugal. He was appointed Governor of Isles de France and Bourbon and he arrived in Port Louis on 4 June 1735. In 1744, he established the first sugar factory at Villebague, Pamplemousses (district of Mauritius). In September 1746, he carried out several military and naval expeditions to India and captured Madras from the British. He was imprisoned at La Bastille between 1748 and 1751. He died on 10 November 1753.
LA PÉROUSE
The stamp (R1) shows La Pérouse and the route he followed in the Pacific Ocean on his ill-fated trip.
Jean François de Galaup de La Pérouse was born in August at Gûo, Albi in France. He entered the French Royal Navy at the age of fifteen and served in France and Canada under various commands including that of the Chevalier de Ternay. He was later commissioned by the King of France Louis XVI to carry out a scientific and exploration trip around the world. He left France in 1785 with ships La Boussole and L'Astrolabe. He surveyed much of the Pacific and died during a shipwreck off Vanikoro island in 1788. The remains of both ships were discovered 50 years later.
SIR WILLIAM MAYNARD GOMM
The stamp (Rs4) shows the ball of Lady Gomm.
William Maynard Gomm was born in Barbados in 1784. In 1749, he started a successful military career to become Field Marshall in 1868. He was appointed Governor of Mauritius on November 1842. He was at first very popular with the planters as he announced in his opening speech, made in French, the removal of the ban on Indian immigration. He reformed the postal system and enacted the Post Office Ordinance in 1846, which paved the way for the introduction of stamps. He improved salaries and living conditions of the Indian immigrants.
GEORGE CLARK
George Clark was born in 1807 in England and came to Mauritius as a missionary teacher. He was appointed government schoolmaster in May 1851. For over twenty years he worked as a teacher in Mahebourg. He contributed in the Mauritius Almanac of 1859. In September 1865, he discovered all the bones necessary to form a complete skeleton in the marshes of Mare aux Songes. The bones were sent to the British Museum. The skeleton proves that the Dodo , a huge short-winged bird, eating fruits and seeds, existed in Mauritius. Clark retired at the age of 65 in December 1872 and died on 6 February 1873.
The stamp (Rs6) shows Clark digging at Mare aux Songes.
PROFESSOR BRIAN ABEL-SMITH
Brian Abel Smith was born in London 1926. After post-war army service, he obtained his education at Cambridge and joined the London School of Economics where he remained until his retirement in 1991. He was also a member of the Fabian Society and advised Labour Governments in Britain on social policies. As a consultant of the World Health Organisation, he advised more than 60 countries on how to set up and consolidate a social security.
The stamp shows Professor Abel-Smith and the Sessional Paper presented at the Legislative Council in 1960.
W O R L D W A R I I
The stamp portrays Mauritian soldiers of the Eight Army in the desert at Tripoli.
The stamp shows the HMS Mauritius. It participated in the invasion of Sicily and also participated in the D-Day landing in Normandy - 6 June 1944. HMS Mauritius visited Port Louis in December 1950. The ship was scrapped in 1965.
The stamp depicts a Catalina of 259 squadron of the Royal Air Force at Tombeau Bay, a landing base during the World War II.