“This estate is in fine cultivation, and the establishment has always been kept up in a style worthy of the true gentleman of the old French school, to which M. de Chazal belongs. His reputation for kindness and hospitality has spread far and wide —from the Governors of Mauritius downward all have shared his large-hearted hospitality.”
Nikolas Pike, US Consol in Mauritius during his visit to St Antoine in 1860.
Joseph Antoine Edmond de Chazal is born on the 2nd of March 1809 in Mauritius. His parents Toussaint Antoine de Chazal and Anne Rivalze de St Antoine owned La Mondrain estate in the centre of Mauritius. They were close friends of the first British governor of Mauritius Mr Robert Farquhar.
This is a self portrait of Edmond, who was also an artist, that is on display at La Demeure St Antoine.
Edmond de Chazal was married to Claire Rouillard at St Philomene church in Poudre D’Or in 1835 and they had 15 children. Yes, Claire is probably related to Edouard Rouillard who owned Mon Loisir Rouillard, now Endemika. One day I will attempt to put together the family tree of sugar mills in Mauritius as certain names definitely keep popping up.
Interestingly the prefix de in a French surname is often thought to denote nobility. This is not always the case as many times the ‘de’ is added when someone is a landowner. However in the the case of this family, a Jean Chazal become Capitaine-Châtelaini (Captain Lord) in 1657 and was elected Kings council which allowed the noble title to be passed onto future heirs.
Edmond rented Amber Island as a place to keep rabbits and hares. There is still de Chazal point named in his honour on the island. Perhaps he had also heard the rumours of pirates treasure buried there and used the warren as an excuse to visit regularly!
He was much loved and respected in Mauritius and many attended his funeral in 1879.
Le Cernéen newspaper writes:
“An immense crowd was present today at the funeral of Mr. Edmond de Chazal. His friends were not the only ones present: it seems that deputations had been sent from every part of the colony to pay homage to this great man.
The convoy was followed by one thousand Indians, all his workers of St Antoine and Mon Rocher, to whom were joined those of the neighbouring estates. Not one had been requested to come; all had come freely and of their own initiative.”
Edmond De Chazal bought the property in 1835 and named it in honour of his mother’s family name.
He further expanded St Antoine by buying lands in the area to make it one of the largest sugar mills in Mauritius.
The old, remarkably preserved reservoir is pictured.
1835 was the year when slavery ended in Mauritius and consequently de Chazal brought in 1000 indentured labourers from India to work at the estate.
Nikolas Pike describes how the workers of the estate seem very well looked after as there were stone houses with neat gardens and good roads. The families on the estate also had their own chickens and goats.
Thanks to all these successful ventures and forward thinking by the charismatic owner, St Antoine grew and annexed the neighbouring mill of Petite Village in 1849 and I assume Belmont sometime before the 1874 visit of Lord Lindsay.
However, the Mauritius sugar industry had to adapt to change and competition and St Antoine was eventually annexed in 1994 by Mon Loisir.
The house that Edmond built and the grounds around it have been preserved by his family and repurposed into a fabulous guest house and restaurant of the highest quality.
It was an amazing experience to be able to walk around a house where there was so much history, actually brought a tear to my eye. Thank you so much to Anne-Dauphine de Grivel at La Demeure St Antoine for the opportunity. You showed hospitality in the true style of Edmond.
If at all possible, try to visit this incredible estate or check out our video below if you cannot visit at the moment.
We will definitely visit again once the restaurant and guest house are open to the public.
Check out their webpage for booking functions or accommodation or a lovely meal.
Every so often in the de Chazal family, a thinker comes along. Edmond was one and three generations later it was Malcolm, poet, author and artist.
He is best known for his book of thousands of quotes, “Sens Plastique”.
“Beauty remains so in ugly surroundings”
I will not go into too much detail about Malcolm as there are plenty of resources available. At La Demeure St Antoine, there is a room displaying his works and books and probably many other personal trinkets, quite amazing to see. I think his painting Le Morne, although naïve in style, has a lot of underlying meaning with the depiction of raindrops or are they teardrops?
There is a Malcolm de Chazal Trust Fund in Mauritius set up to preserve the works of Malcom as part of the Mauritian cultural heritage and to “encourage the expression of the Mauritian creative genius in the philosophical, literary, artistic and other related domains”.
You can follow this page on twitter to receive regular musings of Malcom.
Draupadi Amen Kovil is the temple at St Antoine.
It was originally a wooden thatch structure but this was destroyed by Cyclone Carol in 1960. The new temple was built with stronger materials and is renovated regularly.
Most of the sugar estates had a Kovil built on them and more often than not it is this that survives as the only reminder of the estate. This is quite a useful piece of information for those of us trying to located sugar mill chimneys and ruins, look for the temple nearby.
If you would like to see all the remaining sugar chimneys, check out this blog:
https://letsdiscovermauritius.com/blog/sugar-mills-chimneys-in-mauritius.html
This temple is believed to be special in that devotees wishes are regularly granted and therefore it is visited by many people from Mauritius and beyond. Unfortunately the temple was closed when we visited but we will be back.
There is a fire walking ceremony that takes place in December to test the faith of devotees. Another not to be missed event to add to our calendars.
In 1823, at the age of 17, Miss Malcy de Chazal who lived on the estate La Mondrain (Edmond’s parent’s estate), painted a pretty pink flower that she had seen.
This flower was later identified as an extinct endemic species and lead to its re-discovery in 1968. The Hibiscus Genevii was considered to be extinct for 150 years.
Her original watercolours are kept at the Réduit herbarium, another place I must now add to my to-visit list. She became a well respected botany painter.
Another interesting visitor to La Mondrain, that I discovered while visiting a rabbit hole, was Captain Flinders.
Captain Flinders, an English navigator who mapped Australia, was detained on his return journey for 6 years in Mauritius from 1803. He used to walk up to La Mondrain to look out for the arrival of English ships that he hoped would come rescue him.
La Mondrain is currently a nature reserve owned by Medine where many endemic plants can be found.
For those who have made it to here, thank you for reading my ramblings about St Antoine. This is a special place as it is one of only a handful of historic sites that are being preserved and put to use. Hopefully it can serve as an example of what is possible and show the potential that Mauritius has in it’s heritage.
Collecting and collating this information takes a lot of time and patience. If you have enjoyed this blog, please consider buying me a coffee.
A great blog, Riki is truly a skilled writer and dare I say, historian.
Thank you sweety, you might be a bit biased though 🙂
That is a well written, fascinating blog piled with information Riki. I felt I was back in time on the estate and will certainly visit it should I holiday in Mauritius again.
Thank you for reading it and for the encouragement
Brilliant Riki. Very interesting and beautifully written
Thank you. I am glad you found it interesting.
A fascinating read Riki. Great historical facts ( which we love) and well written . We can’t wait to visit Mauritius once everything is open and this will definitely be on our list to see . Stay safe .
Thank you, we cant wait for everyone to be able to come back and enjoy Mauritius.
Thank you,we learn a lot about it.
It is our pleasure, hopefully you will enjoy our future blogs as well.
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Thank you for sharing this video. It is the first time I see the house where I believe my grandfather and family may have lived for a while. I look forward to visiting next time I am in Mauritius.
Wow that is amazing. Definitely visit as there are many photos of family on the walls.