Joseph-François Charpentier de Cossigny de Palma

Joseph-François Charpentier de Cossigny (1736-1809), also known as Joseph-François Charpentier de Cossigny de Palma was born in Port Louis, the son of Jean-François Charpentier de Cossigny, an engineer of the French East India Company. He was also the cousin of David Charpentier de Cossigny. In 1773, while on a visit to Paris as a scholar and politician, he had asked the colonial secretary for the right to establish a Chamber of Agriculture on the Isle de France. Mauritian authorities considered Cossigny as an "agitator" for seeking the establishment of a representative body which could have interfered with the direct authority of the ministry.