François Perrinon

François Auguste Perrinon was born at St.-Pierre (Martinique, FWI) into a free black family during the slavery period of the colony, but sent to mainland France for his education. He enrolled in the École Polytechnique, with a specialization in naval artillery.

In 1842, he was sent back to the Caribbean as part of the French colonial army's garrison on the isle of Guadeloupe. He was of anti-slavery sympathy, and in 1847, in a pamphlet he authored entitled "Résultats d'expérience sur le travail des esclaves" ("The Slave-Labor Experience") describing events on the isle of St. Martin, he argued that the work being performed by slaves at the time could just as well be performed by free people and at equal cost. A year later, he was appointed to the Commission for the Abolition of Slavery, and was sent to Martinique as "Commissioner of Abolition", later becoming General Commissioner and holding that post from June to November of 1848.

In 1849, he was elected, along with his close friend Victor Schoelcher, deputy to the French National Assembly.

In the wake of a coup d'état of 2 December 1851, in France, he returned to the Caribbean to live on St. Martin, where he was involved in operations in the salt marshes. His refusal, in a letter of 18 April 1853, to take an oath of allegiance to Napoléon III, resulted in his expulsion from the military.