Henri Mabille

Henri Mabille (25 September 1902 – 4 December 1976) was a French missionary, military officer and politician who served as the President of the Territorial Assembly of Ubangi-Shari (now the Central African Republic) from 1952 to 1957.

Biography

Mabille was born on 25 September 1902 in Morija, Basutoland (modern-day Lesotho). His parents, Louis Mabille and Mary Emilia Cadier, were both French missionaries. In 1919, his parents moved their four eldest children (including Henri) to France to stay with foster families, to allow the children to receive a better education. Mabille worked in Lesotho through 1940. Afterwards, he served as a missionary in Togo from 1957 to 1967 before serving in Ivory Coast, later retiring in July 1973. He divorced from his second wife in 1955 and remarried to Josette Sire in 1963. Mabille died in Monoblet, France, on 4 November 1976, at the age of 74.