Marie Louise Emilienne Rochecouste OBE (20 September 1892 – 28 February 1979) was a Mauritian politician. In 1948 she became the first woman elected to the Legislative Council, serving until 1953.

Biography

Born Marie Louise Emilienne Orian in 1892 into a mixed-race Franco-Mauritian family, Rochecouste worked as a primary school teacher and headmistress.^[1][2][3] She married Raphael Rochecouste in July 1916.^[1] During World War II, their son Jean died while serving in the Royal Air Force.^[4]

Rochecouste stood as an independent candidate in the six-seat Plaines Wilhems–Black River constituency in the August 1948 elections.^[5] At an executive committee meeting held on 11 July, the Labour Party decided to support her candidacy despite being opposed to the concept of female suffrage.^[3] She finished second in the vote, becoming the first woman elected to the Legislative Council. Following the elections, Denise De Chazal was appointed as a second female member.^[3] She lost her seat in the 1953 elections, finishing twentieth out of thirty candidates.^[6]

Rochecouste was appointed an OBE in the 1958 Birthday Honours. In the 1970s the government school in her hometown of Quatre Bornes was named after her.^[7]

References