Julius Soubise

Apr 21, 2026 - 14:59
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Julius Soubise

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← Previous revision Revision as of 09:27, 21 April 2026
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{{Short description|British actor-musician (1754–1798)}}
{{Short description|British actor-musician (1754–1798)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}}
[[File:Mungomacaroni.gif|thumb|''A Mungo Macaroni'' engraving by Matthew and Mary Darly (1772)]]
[[File:Mungomacaroni.gif|thumb|''A Mungo Macaroni'' engraving by Matthew and Mary Darly (1772)]]
'''Julius Soubise''' (c. 1754 – 25 August 1798) was a formerly enslaved [[British African-Caribbean community|Afro-Caribbean]] man and a well-known [[fop]] in late eighteenth-century [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]]. The satirized depiction of Soubise, ''A Mungo Macaroni'', is a relic of [[intersectionality]] between race, class, and gender in eighteenth-century London. His life of luxury as a free man of colour allowed him to excel in elite activities such as fencing and made him notorious in London's social scene as an exception to norms.{{Cite book|title=Slaves to fashion : black dandyism and the styling of black diasporic identity|author=Miller, Monica L.|date=2009|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=9780822391517|location=Durham|oclc=462914558}}
'''Julius Soubise''' (c. 1754 – 25 August 1798) was a formerly enslaved [[British African-Caribbean community|Afro-Caribbean]] man and a well-known [[fop]] in late eighteenth-century [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]]. The satirized depiction of Soubise, ''A Mungo Macaroni'', is a relic of [[intersectionality]] between race, class, and gender in eighteenth-century London. His life of luxury as a free man of colour allowed him to excel in elite activities such as fencing and made him notorious in London's social scene as an exception to norms.{{Cite book|title=Slaves to fashion : black dandyism and the styling of black diasporic identity|author=Miller, Monica L.|date=2009|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=9780822391517|location=Durham|oclc=462914558}}
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In the collected letters of the famous freed slave [[Ignatius Sancho]], Letter XIIII (dated 11 October 1772) is addressed to Soubise, whom Sancho encourages to consider his lucky position as an unusually privileged black person and so live a more seemly life.{{cite book|title=The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African|author=Ignatius Sancho (ed. Vincent Carretta)|publisher=Penguin Classics|year=1998|isbn=978-0-14-043637-2|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DgsezxDWe1sC&dq=Soubise+macaroni&pg=PA257 257]}}
In the collected letters of the famous freed slave [[Ignatius Sancho]], Letter XIIII (dated 11 October 1772) is addressed to Soubise, whom Sancho encourages to consider his lucky position as an unusually privileged black person and so live a more seemly life.{{cite book|title=The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African|author=Ignatius Sancho (ed. Vincent Carretta)|publisher=Penguin Classics|year=1998|isbn=978-0-14-043637-2|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DgsezxDWe1sC&dq=Soubise+macaroni&pg=PA257 257]}}


However, on 15 July 1777 Soubise fled Britain for [[India]]. Historical accounts dispute whether he was sent away simply to amend his debauchery or to evade a rape accusation from a maid of the Duchess’. The Duchess died two days after his departure.
However, on 15 July 1777 Soubise fled Britain for [[India]]. Historical accounts dispute whether he was sent away simply to amend his debauchery or to evade a rape accusation from a maid of the Duchess’. The Duchess died two days after his departure.


Once in India, he settled in [[Calcutta]], Bengal, where he founded a fencing and riding school which was advertised as open to men and women students.{{Cite ODNB|title=Soubise, Julius [formerly Othello] (c. 1754–1798), man of fashion|volume = 1|last=Carretta|first=Vincent|date=2004-09-23|series=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/60841}} The venture does not appear to have been successful, as records show multiple notices of insolvency, and Soubise was for a time imprisoned in a [[Debtors' prison|debtor's jail]].{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Ashley L. |last2=Gerzina |first2=Gretchen |title=Britain's Black Past |date=31 March 2020 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |location=Liverpool |isbn=9781800341135 |pages=215-234 |url=https://watermark02.silverchair.com/331795960.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAA1swggNXBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggNIMIIDRAIBADCCAz0GCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMosj_IMCjOW3PZNoPAgEQgIIDDo9jOjl6yIxmdvmBinBOfJrai2S2v9ZPrNb5vrHz0kmk_cB11CSZH2-yRVj-qssDlaJBqaXqNNLWlGLSI1jR_st8hUSAwHW3n28A_4iUgLsEyZopK9pBJCBhKqT-nUq4OucWaOu0PKWVDQrtgMGkTn38KdnOqkfhCKheRvR05D7VOh4uCapQcuXzcR1QNmI-KguGXXbeOkVrG8C1V2gSdG9vzE764U_2KuoQ1tqIzVESdoNIkl4HcOq2opVZfxQF-YbllLOcaXf1xW27INYuZ0QINid-R2S8ra5m__g860o1ol1Z0dvNwp4viWEntPKSgmGwZWyFhZ27C1p0QUTIhmtG0qTbVEnmDVOjWsQiMRVCGqmmotEVPiAeiTYFRXqhDEFpTOs_S1RTnLKfTqkSdB8vCCNvZMM4Dn5LmsuqyQ93ALlaxRt-isaDvn5tcB5DQv3_lFmmTkylAglpoLDmB6xCdhayB8zXLZw7jZBQDfA87dmqEZHgietG9n-1WupSufxJ8RKrVgENwU_f0xH03BR6fUTy6psXMTnusGXWdqdGSPPygwXlDrDu1Va1XVzkoT2gQC6LCAq_9tdLkHqJOTd3z11oTt03hxm8jHaKGn7sdQCxOTuIRaHiTjQNBxFc5yWRdV8XImpz6YWN96qgq_o6Luum6gCpZGIHKUGgB7Erk5vqamjO0Bs6G55QXO6oojQVH14WiZtrr0jLm0dhGBSFBvAiPMRzrY9o-oepUusixPHY_3Psw55PI-tBbrEYVrVoKRo6Kk4zw1USZWcFMXwcKBDkRSwkljsd-CTFgWFH4DvHT35YrxvcTZPOS6jCjEzUHxSQFuJcwub4Z8fsCXt1ykLCQIFvo9G4IkmjTEZ3dqex8HKFZds4GdnfzJoSrEi1icb6GNbMXG0w8MIdQQCKfqjvbDj8ABww_zOcYdqTpsPMeJ3j_V1-qhd_pcpURQkQsMLAMQ1fcAkc_O2TQp8Yg917wubvysFKp003SsUERgXaWVDDUJxTRhpZAF_C9ZFz0ubLpkisZmCCGhuZ |access-date=19 March 2026}} In 1794, he married Catherine Pawson, the white daughter of a disgraced paymaster general with the [http://East%20India%20Company East India Company]. Contemporary accounts suggest it was a happy marriage. While in Calcutta he also fathered two known children, Mary and William Soubise. Based on dates, Catherine is likely to have been the mother of these children, though no mother was named in the baptism records. On 25 August 1798, Soubise fell while attempting to break in a horse.{{cite book|author=[[Catherine Lynette Innes]]|title=A History of Black and Asian Writing in Britain, 1700–2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-521-64327-6|page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=hSCZsYuQWYgC&dq=Julius+Soubise+riding+school&pg=RA1-PA27 27]}} The fall came after a year of ailing health due to rheumatism, and he succumbed to his injuries, dying the following day at the age of 44.
Once in India, he settled in [[Calcutta]], Bengal, where he founded a fencing and riding school which was advertised as open to men and women students.{{Cite ODNB|title=Soubise, Julius [formerly Othello] (c. 1754–1798), man of fashion|volume = 1|last=Carretta|first=Vincent|date=2004-09-23|series=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/60841}} The venture does not appear to have been successful, as records show multiple notices of insolvency, and Soubise was for a time imprisoned in a [[Debtors' prison|debtor's jail]].{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Ashley L. |last2=Gerzina |first2=Gretchen |title=Britain's Black Past |date=31 March 2020 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |location=Liverpool |isbn=9781800341135 |pages=215–234 |url=https://watermark02.silverchair.com/331795960.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAA1swggNXBgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggNIMIIDRAIBADCCAz0GCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMosj_IMCjOW3PZNoPAgEQgIIDDo9jOjl6yIxmdvmBinBOfJrai2S2v9ZPrNb5vrHz0kmk_cB11CSZH2-yRVj-qssDlaJBqaXqNNLWlGLSI1jR_st8hUSAwHW3n28A_4iUgLsEyZopK9pBJCBhKqT-nUq4OucWaOu0PKWVDQrtgMGkTn38KdnOqkfhCKheRvR05D7VOh4uCapQcuXzcR1QNmI-KguGXXbeOkVrG8C1V2gSdG9vzE764U_2KuoQ1tqIzVESdoNIkl4HcOq2opVZfxQF-YbllLOcaXf1xW27INYuZ0QINid-R2S8ra5m__g860o1ol1Z0dvNwp4viWEntPKSgmGwZWyFhZ27C1p0QUTIhmtG0qTbVEnmDVOjWsQiMRVCGqmmotEVPiAeiTYFRXqhDEFpTOs_S1RTnLKfTqkSdB8vCCNvZMM4Dn5LmsuqyQ93ALlaxRt-isaDvn5tcB5DQv3_lFmmTkylAglpoLDmB6xCdhayB8zXLZw7jZBQDfA87dmqEZHgietG9n-1WupSufxJ8RKrVgENwU_f0xH03BR6fUTy6psXMTnusGXWdqdGSPPygwXlDrDu1Va1XVzkoT2gQC6LCAq_9tdLkHqJOTd3z11oTt03hxm8jHaKGn7sdQCxOTuIRaHiTjQNBxFc5yWRdV8XImpz6YWN96qgq_o6Luum6gCpZGIHKUGgB7Erk5vqamjO0Bs6G55QXO6oojQVH14WiZtrr0jLm0dhGBSFBvAiPMRzrY9o-oepUusixPHY_3Psw55PI-tBbrEYVrVoKRo6Kk4zw1USZWcFMXwcKBDkRSwkljsd-CTFgWFH4DvHT35YrxvcTZPOS6jCjEzUHxSQFuJcwub4Z8fsCXt1ykLCQIFvo9G4IkmjTEZ3dqex8HKFZds4GdnfzJoSrEi1icb6GNbMXG0w8MIdQQCKfqjvbDj8ABww_zOcYdqTpsPMeJ3j_V1-qhd_pcpURQkQsMLAMQ1fcAkc_O2TQp8Yg917wubvysFKp003SsUERgXaWVDDUJxTRhpZAF_C9ZFz0ubLpkisZmCCGhuZ |access-date=19 March 2026}} In 1794, he married Catherine Pawson, the white daughter of a disgraced paymaster general with the [http://East%20India%20Company East India Company]. Contemporary accounts suggest it was a happy marriage. While in Calcutta he also fathered two known children, Mary and William Soubise. Based on dates, Catherine is likely to have been the mother of these children, though no mother was named in the baptism records. On 25 August 1798, Soubise fell while attempting to break in a horse.{{cite book|author=[[Catherine Lynette Innes]]|title=A History of Black and Asian Writing in Britain, 1700–2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-521-64327-6|page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=hSCZsYuQWYgC&dq=Julius+Soubise+riding+school&pg=RA1-PA27 27]}} The fall came after a year of ailing health due to rheumatism, and he succumbed to his injuries, dying the following day at the age of 44.


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