Julius Soubise

His life of luxury as a free man of colour allowed him to excel in elite activities such as fencing and made him notorious in London's social scene as an exception to norms.

[2][3] He was bought by Royal Navy Captain Stair Douglas[2] and taken to England, enslaved, at ten years of age, under the name Othello.

[1] She gave Soubise a privileged life, treating him as if he were her own son – apparently with her husband Charles Douglas, 3rd Duke of Queensberry's blessing.

In India, he founded a fencing and riding school in Calcutta, Bengal which he advertised as open to men and women students.

[16][13] The term "macaroni" was a contemporary name for a fashionable young man, a dandy, while "Mungo" was a name of an officious slave from the 1769 comic opera The Padlock by Isaac Bickerstaffe.

[17] In previous contexts, use of the term "mungo" was often aimed towards luxury slaves, an application of the character to those treated theatrically like elite's pets.

[1] William Austin's well-known satirical print, The Duchess of Queensbury and Soubise (published 1 May 1773) shows the pair engaged in a fencing match.

Soubise was strongly associated with these characters throughout his time in the elite social sphere, labelled by others because he was a black actor, punctuated by his depiction in A Mungo Macaroni.