Born in Chittagong (modern-day Bangladesh) in 1762, Louis-Benoît Zamor was taken as a child by British slave traders and trafficked to France, where he was gifted to Madame du Barry, the mistress of King Louis XV. However, rather than remaining a silent observer of aristocratic excess, Zamor embraced revolutionary ideals, ultimately playing a role in Du Barry’s downfall during the French Revolution.
Zamor’s origins are a topic of debate, but he is believed to have been of Siddi ancestry—Africans who had long settled in the Indian subcontinent, many of them brought through the Indian Ocean slave trade. Captured by British traders at the age of 11, he was transported to France, possibly passing through Madagascar along the way.
Upon arrival in France, Zamor was gifted to Madame du Barry. Some sources suggest he was acquired by either the Prince of Conti or the Duke of Richelieu before being presented to King Louis XV, who then gave him to his mistress. Either way, his life changed dramatically as he entered the world of Versailles, where he was baptized as Louis-Benoît around 1770.
Despite his status as a servant, Zamor received an education at Du Barry’s insistence. He developed an interest in literature, particularly the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, which championed liberty and equality—concepts that would later fuel his revolutionary convictions. Du Barry herself described him as intelligent but mischievous, noting in her memoirs that he carried himself as an equal to those around him, even refusing to acknowledge the superiority of King Louis XV.
Zamor remained at Versailles after Louis XV’s death in 1774 and even followed Du Barry when she was exiled from court. By the time the French Revolution erupted in 1789, however, his sympathies lay firmly with the Jacobins, a radical political group that called for the abolition of the monarchy and greater social equality. Originally a debating society, the Jacobins became the dominant revolutionary faction, led by figures such as Maximilien Robespierre, Georges Danton, and Jean-Paul Marat. They controlled the government during the Reign of Terror (1793–1794), executing thousands of perceived enemies, including King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette.
Zamor, displeased by Du Barry’s extravagant lifestyle and her continued ties to the old aristocracy, became an informant for the Committee of Public Safety, the powerful body enforcing the Jacobins’ rule. In 1792, he played a direct role in Du Barry’s arrest upon her return from England. Though she was temporarily released, she soon discovered his betrayal and expelled him from her household. Undeterred, Zamor continued to denounce her, helping bring charges that led to her final arrest, trial, and execution by guillotine in 1793.
Despite his revolutionary devotion, Zamor did not escape suspicion himself. The Girondins, a rival faction opposing the radical Jacobins, arrested him on charges of being a counter-revolutionary and possibly a secret ally of Du Barry. He was imprisoned for six weeks before securing his release.
Afterward, he disappeared from public life. He reportedly left France for a time, only to return after Napoleon’s defeat in 1815. In his later years, he lived modestly in Paris, working as a schoolteacher. He died in poverty on February 7, 1820, and was buried in the city where he had once helped topple the aristocracy.
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