Jean Fritz (Frédéric) Henri Gaebelé was born on 10 March 1860 in Munster, Haut-Rhin, Alsace.
He directed two spinning mills in the Vosges, then arrived in Pondicherry on 13 April 1884 as director of the Établissements Textiles de Savana.
[1] In 1888 the Banque de l'Indochine helped Gaebelé install the first telephone network in French India.
[3] In 1889 after a short but violent contest Gaebelé was elected mayor of the commune of Oulgaret and resigned from his position with the Établissements Textiles de Savana.
The company manufactured cotton fabrics dyed with indigo called "guinées" for sale in India, Senegal, Sudan, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, blue fabric for Madagascar, Réunion and the Pacific islands, and unbleached canvasses.
[4] The company had its headquarters in Colmar and shareholders in Bordeaux, so it retained strong links to metropolitan France.
[11] In the years that followed the lower castes were oppressed under the rule of Chanemougam, the "King of French India".
[9] Acting governor Ernest Fernand Lévecque sent a telegram to the Colonial Ministry on 24 April 1910 giving the first results.
[12] For the next four years there were violent clashes between the followers of Gaebelé and Lemaire on one side, and of Gaston Pierre and Bluysen on the other.
[9] In 1914 Gaebelé regained control through an extraordinary reversal, where he became an ally of Bluysen and helped him get reelected, while Lemaire sided with Pierre.
[12] Gaebelé controlled French India from the start of World War I until 1927, with increased importance in the 1920s.
[14] He arranged for supply of drinking water to Pondicherry, Karaikal and Chandannagar, and suppressed the epidemics that had been endemic until then.
Gaebelé was responsible for various public works, including upgrades to the port facilities, purchase of the warehouses and a power station.
[17] Gaebelé's election confirmed his grip on power in the colony, but to strengthen his position he courted the poorest of the population, the outcasts, patnavas and vannias.