Ali (Louis-Etienne Saint-Denis, a.k.a)
Mamluk, Knight of the Légion d'honneur
Pronunciation:
Louis-Etienne Saint-Denis was born on September 22, 1788 in Versailles, son of Etienne, a groom in the royal stables, and Marie-Louise Notté, daughter of an officer in the royal kitchens.
He received a good education, becoming a notary's clerk in Paris.
It was in 1806, thanks to his father who knew Armand de Caulaincourt, that he entered the service of Napoleon I as a huntsman in the Imperial household. In December 1811 that he moved to the domestic services as second valet de chambre, replacing a Mamluk Ali, whose nickname he took according to the Emperor's wishes.
Loyal to the core, he followed the Emperor from Spain to Russia. In April 1814, after the first abdication, he succeeded Roustam Raza, who had fled. This led to exile on the island of Elba . Then came the fabulous adventure of the Hundred Days, and finally Saint Helena. It was on this desolate island at the other side of the world that he married Miss Mary Hall, the English governess of Count Bertrand's children, in 1819.
His devotion, like that of Louis-Joseph Narcisse Marchand, eased his master's captivity throughout those six years. He even went so far as to formulate and manufacture, using whatever was available, a cologne made primarily with citrus fruits.
Upon his death, Napoleon I bequeathed to Ali one hundred thousand francs, and charged him with keeping four hundred selected volumes from his library with a view to giving them to his son when he was sixteen years old, a mission which could not be fulfilled.
Returning to France in 1821, Ali lived off a small job in a riding school, took care of his three daughters like a good family man, then had the honor of participating in the expedition to return the ashes in 1840.
In 1851, he had a private meeting with the Prince-President, the future Napoleon III.
He died on May 3, 1856 in Sens (Yonne), leaving to the city (of which he was a municipal councillor) many Napoleonic memories, and to posterity Memories which would be published in 1926 and an unpublished Journal of the return of the Ashes, 1840.
He was buried in the Sens cemetery .
Louis-Etienne Saint-Denis, known as the Mamluk Ali. Early 19th century engraving
His devotion to the Emperor earned him the Legion of Honour on February 23, 1854, from Napoleon III.