Category: 19th Century

19th Century black British history

Three fragments of history

It’s nice when you can tell the whole story but sometimes it isn’t possible and all you have is a fragment, insignificant in its own right but, combined with other fragments, they can contribute in a small way to a bigger picture. We know next to nothing about William Heywood, George Dony or Johnson Freeman other than that two were servants and one was a former seaman – but research by John Ellis has identified all three as black men who were living in England at the time of their deaths in the 18th/19th century. In the case of Freeman Johnson our knowledge of him comes mainly from a rather graphic description of his sad death.

Fragments are frustrating but can sometimes develop into something more significant – John has written the fascinating story of a black nurse in Victorian England and we will be bringing that to you shortly.

William Heywood

From the Leeds Intelligencer, 7th March 1780:

Saturday died at Liverpool, in the 79th years of his age, Thomas Crowder, Esq; formerly a Jamaica merchant, where he acquired a large fortune; and on Tuesday last died, his faithful Black Servant, who had served him upwards of twenty years.

William Heywood “a black servant to Thomas Crowder, Esq. deceased, (of) Water Street” died on the 29th of February and was buried at St Nicholas Church, Liverpool on the 2nd of March 1790. (‘Our Lady and St Nicholas’ in the parish of Liverpool). The church is one in which a number of baptismal, marriage and burial records belonging to the Black population of Liverpool have been identified, including George Wise a Nova Scotian veteran of the Peninsula Campaign.

Thomas Crowder of Liverpool (1701-1780) was one of the founder members of the ‘African Company of Merchants’ in 1752. As such he was involved in the trade in enslaved people. He died on the 26th of February and was buried at the Church of St Nicholas, Liverpool on the 1st of March 1780.[1]Sources: For William Heywood see: Leeds Intelligencer, 7th March 1780. findmypast.co.uk Bishop’s Transcripts. Dr/2/59. Liverpool, Lancashire. Lancashire Archives. ancestry.co.uk For Thomas … Continue reading

George Edward Doney of Cassiobury House
Cassiobury House[2]https://victoriaalexander.com/notes-extras-and-fun-stuff/cassiobury-house/

From the Sun (London), 7th September 1809:

On Monday, at Cashiobury-House (Cassiobury House, Watford), the seat of the Earl of Essex, George Donney, a black servant belonging to his Lordship, who had lived in the family upward of 4 years.

George Edward Doney was buried at St Mary’s Church, Watford on the 8th of September 1809. He was described as a “Widower, Negro Servant to the Earl of Essex”. A search of both ancestry.co.uk and findmypast.co.uk has failed to find further reference to George Edward Doney or any relatives.

St Mary’s church, Watford[3]

George Capel-Coningsbury (1757-1839) was the 5th Earl of Essex (1799-1839). His first wife, Sarah Thompson (nee’ Bazett, 1759-1838), had been born on St Helena, which may provide some clue as to the origins of George Edward Doney but his gravestone tells a different story.

George Edward Doney c1758 – 1809 worked as a servant for 44 years at Cassiobury House. The inscription on his gravestone reveals that he was captured from Gambia as a child and sold into slavery

Poor Edward blest the pirate bark that bore His captive infancy from Gambia’s shore To where in willing servitude he won Those blest rewards for every duty done.

Kindness and praise, the wages of the heart, none else to him could joy or pride impart, And gave him, born a pagan and a slave, a freeman’s charter, and a Christian’s grave.

Photo by Bill Hern of Historycal Roots

The Earl and his wife resided in the ancestral home of the Earls of Essex at Cassiobury House, Cassiobury Park.[3]Sources: Sun (London), 7th September 1809. findmypast.co.uk Family Transcriptions © Hertfordshire & Population History Society. Hertfordshire Burials. findmypast.co.uk

Freeman Johnson, a Black Merchant Seaman, 1825-1848

From the South Eastern Gazette, 25th April 1848:

CORONER’S INQUEST.- On Saturday last an inquest was held at the Lunatic Asylum, Barming-heath, before F.F. Dally, Esq., on the body of Freeman Johnson, a man of colour, aged 23, who had been an inmate of the Asylum since the 11th inst., having been sent from the Greenwich union house. It appeared that the deceased was in a very weak state, when admitted, and was found by Robert Jones, a keeper, at about nine o’clock on the evening on the 13 th , quite dead, with his face hanging over the side of the bedstead, and blood oozing from the mouth and nose. He was last seen alive by George Baker, a keeper, at about half-past six on the same evening, when he refused his supper, but said he was in no pain. Dr Huxley, who had made a post-mortem examination, deposed that the deceased was suffocated by the flow of blood arising from a rupture of one (of) the vessels of the lungs, which were much diseased. Verdict accordingly.

Freeman Johnson was born at Nassau in the Bahamas in 1825. He
registered as a British Merchant Seaman either in 1845 or sometime
shortly after. Freeman Johnson was interred at All Saints Church,
Maidstone on the 18th of April 1848.[4]Sources: TNA BT114/12. findmypast.co.uk South Eastern Gazette, 25th April 1848. findmypast.co.uk Burial: Maidstone All Saints burials, 1838-1907. Kent Burials. findmypast.co.uk

References

References
↑1 Sources: For William Heywood see: Leeds Intelligencer, 7th March 1780. findmypast.co.uk Bishop’s Transcripts. Dr/2/59. Liverpool, Lancashire. Lancashire Archives. ancestry.co.uk For Thomas Crowder see: England Deaths & Burials, 1538-1991. Index © IRI. Used by permission of FamilySearch Intl. findmypast.co.uk Bishop’s Transcripts. Dr/2/59. Liverpool, Lancashire. Lancashire Archives. ancestry.co.uk For George Wise see: www.historycalroots.com/george-wise-from-nova-scotia-to-liverpool-via-the-battlefields-of-the-napoleonic-wars/
↑2 https://victoriaalexander.com/notes-extras-and-fun-stuff/cassiobury-house/
↑3 Sources: Sun (London), 7th September 1809. findmypast.co.uk Family Transcriptions © Hertfordshire & Population History Society. Hertfordshire Burials. findmypast.co.uk
↑4 Sources: TNA BT114/12. findmypast.co.uk South Eastern Gazette, 25th April 1848. findmypast.co.uk Burial: Maidstone All Saints burials, 1838-1907. Kent Burials. findmypast.co.uk

What to make of Amelia Francis?

John Ellis is back with a fascinating piece about Amelia Francis, a black woman living in Georgian London. If you have never heard of her, fear not, no one else has either!

All that is known about her comes from a series of newspaper reports, the first from 22nd March 1819 and the last from 1st June 1829. Two further reports from 1833 may very well also refer to her but we cannot be absolutely certain that they do.

Several of the reports mention her ‘curious’ history but they all detail her increasingly fractious brushes with the criminal justice system. The reports variously refer to her as ‘deranged’, ‘vicious’ and ‘violent’. Her ‘victim’, the Earl of Powis was the son of Robert Clive (‘Clive of India’). As the first born son, he had inherited, what most would now regard as, his father’s ill-gotten gains and lived in splendour at one of London’s smartest addresses, Berkeley Square. Amelia had been employed there as a servant.

Let’s start by examining the slightly different versions of how she came to be in the household of the Earl. The accounts agree that Amelia was a native of distant St Helena (best known as the remote island where Napoleon Bonaparte was incarcerated and died). The story starts when the Earl’s ship stopped at St Helena as he was returning to England from India. In one account he had ‘found her on the island, then an infant, deserted by her parents’ and ‘desired her to be taken on board his ship.’ In another version he plays a more passive role, ‘some person’ took her onto the ship and, once on board, ‘his Lordship was pleased with the child’. A third version says more bluntly that ‘he purchased this female’. She would have been about five years’ old when this transpired, whatever ‘this’ was.

Whatever the circumstances, the newspaper reports all paint the Earl as an honourable man entirely undeserving of the campaign that Amelia waged against him after she emerged from her teens. He had ‘sent her to a boarding school, where she received a genteel education’ with a view to her being employed as ‘a servant in a respectable family’ and subsequently ‘had several situations provided for her.’ One report mentions that she ‘served in his household as an attendant on his children.’ When she started to cause trouble for him (quite a lot of trouble!) his Lordship ‘provided a passage for her to St Helena having ‘given her a considerable sum of money, with ample equipment of wearing apparel of every description and everything else she might want’. She didn’t stay on St Helena long it seems and, when she managed to get back to London by stowing away, ‘his Lordship … very humanely offered to pay the parish officers for her support.’  He also offered to return her to St Helena ‘at his own expense’ but she refused to go.

We will turn now to how Amelia repaid this paragon of virtue for his kindness.

The first report (from 22nd March 1819, by which time she would have been about twenty) tells us that ‘her behaviour was such as to prevent his Lordship’s keeping her in his establishment.’ In July 1827 she was ‘charged with collecting a mob and creating a riot’ outside his house (‘a crowd of 100 persons at least’) and ‘indulging herself in the most gross and obscene  language’ and that she had ‘frequently before been committed to prison for similar conduct.’ She was still at it in July 1828 when she was once again in front of the Magistrate ‘charged with a riot and breaking the windows at the house of Earl Powis.’ Having ‘collected a heap of stones in the street, she very deliberately set about smashing all his Lordship’s windows.’  On more than one occasion she resisted arrest (and that’s putting it mildly if the accounts are to be believed).

Clearly there had been a major rupture in the relationship between the Lord and servant / purchase. What caused the schism? We cannot know although Amelia obviously felt grievously wronged and wanted the world to know about it. Nor was it a fleeting thing, she carried on her campaign against him for a full decade during which she repeatedly kicked over the traces.

Was the timing significant? Reports of Amelia’s campaign span the period March 1819 to June 1829 and this was a decade that featured much social unrest. The Peterloo massacre, when the local militia in Manchester savagely set about unarmed and peaceful protesters, eighteen of whom died, took place in August 1819; the Cato Street conspiracy, a plot to assassinate the entire Cabinet, was planned for February 1820 (the plot failed and six conspirators were executed); and the Spa Fields riots of 1816 were still a recent memory, a black woman had been one of those hanged for her part in the disturbances. It is intriguing, therefore, that Amelia was not altogether alone in her campaign against the Earl, one report refers to her ‘collecting a mob and creating a riot’ outside his house in Berkeley Square. The ‘mob’ was perhaps easily roused but the fact that a black woman was able to enlist the support of a hundred or more perhaps suggests that, whatever Amelia’s grievance was, others shared her sentiments.

Amelia was poor, black and a woman; her opponent was an immensely wealthy white man with the weight of the establishment behind him. There was only ever going to be one winner and it is no surprise that by 1833, Amelia, if the last two reports do refer to her, was ‘destitute’ and ‘half-starved’. Was she, as one report said ‘deranged’, or had she been sorely wronged by the Earl? Clearly, understandably, he was keen to be shot of her and paid once to send her back to St Helena and offered to do so a second time. Was this because he had genuinely liberal feelings and felt it was the least he should do or was he assuaging a guilty conscience and trying to keep her quiet?

We can never know the answers because what is missing in all of this is Amelia’s own voice, she is just another black women whose story is only told through the, unforgiving, eyes of others.

John’s article is here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/with-fury-and-violence-amelia-francis-a-black-woman-in-regency-england/

John Camden’s long journey to Chelsea

John Camden was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India in about 1750. He was a ‘man of colour’ although we don’t know precisely what his ethnicity was. He travelled the world with the British Army and served in seven Regiments over a period of 43 years. He saw action and sustained wounds ‘in the head and both arms’ fighting against the Spanish in Menorca and was discharged on a pension in 1803 as he was ‘worn out’. He spent his retirement years in Chelsea, living near to the Royal Hospital. You can read this and more in John Ellis’s article:

https://www.historycalroots.com/john-camden-of-chelsea-c-1750-1824/

John identified John Camden’s last resting place as plot 63, row 51 in the North-east quarter of the churchyard at St Luke’s church, Chelsea. John and I agreed that, although it was unlikely I would find a stone marking his grave, the plot should at least be there.

It wasn’t.

It is evident that the North-east quarter of the churchyard has been redeveloped and is now a public park with a 5-a-side football court and kiddies playground. The stones have been moved and preserved but do not appear to be in any particular order and are illegible anyway. Of course, John Camden may not have had a stone as it is unlikely he would have been able to afford one but, as a parishioner, there must be a reasonable chance that he attended services in the magnificent interior and that people who knew him prayed for his recovery after the unfortunate accident that John reports in his article.

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A fine start to 2023

In case you think John Ellis has been resting on his laurels since the start of 2023 I am here to disabuse you of that notion, the apparent hiatus in activity stems from my delays in uploading the material he has sent to me. There are three new pages from him that, between them, illustrate the diversity that has long existed in the British Armed forces.

Perhaps the saddest story of the three is that of Charles Girling who was born in St.Domingo in about 1781. Originally colonised by the Spanish in 1496, the island that came to be known as Hispaniola was to be heavily contested by competing colonial powers, with the English and French vying with the Spanish for influence and control of the area before Toussaint L’Ouverture came on the scene.

Charles Girling enlisted in a British regiment, the 20th Light Dragoons, in 1798 when the regiment was in Jamaica. In 1802 the regiment returned to England and Charles Girling went with them. But by 1805 Charles had been admitted to the notorious Bethlem Royal hospital (‘Bedlam’) afflicted by ‘lunacy’ (a diagnosis that could cover a wide variety of issues) and, having been declared ‘incurable’ in May 1806,  he spent his remaining time in institutions until he died in 1807. His story is not a happy one but John has done a remarkable job in tracking Charles’ progress through the several institutions responsible for his care.

https://www.historycalroots.com/from-st-domingo-to-bedlam-trumpeter-charles-girling-of-the-20th-light-dragoons/

The stories of William Perera and the Jacotine brothers, Harold and Eric, date from World War One. All three were born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and served in the British Army. Harold Jacotine was killed in action in April 1918 but his brother and William Perera both survived the war and returned to Ceylon. Eric Jacotine would later return to England, settle in London, become a taxi driver and raise a large family.

https://www.historycalroots.com/faugh-a-bella-private-william-perera-a-sri-lankan-in-the-royal-irish-fusiliers-during-the-first-world-war/

https://www.historycalroots.com/an-admirable-spirit-private-harold-jacotine-of-the-coldstream-guards/

Harold Jacotine

Cheryl Butler – A new contributor to Historycal Roots

It is a pleasure to welcome Cheryl Butler as a new contributor to Historycal Roots. Cheryl is particularly knowledgeable about the history of Southampton and this is how she was introduced when she gave a TED talk in 2019:

She is a historian, writer, and former Head of Culture at Eastleigh where she worked on projects including Vital Villages, Legible Cities and the Partnership for Urban South Hampshire Culture and Quality Place group. Honorary Fellow of the University of Winchester and Fellow of the Royal Historical Association and has written extensively on the history of Southampton and is an editor for the Southampton Records and member of the Southampton Tourist Guides Association.

Her talk was about Southampton’s history in general (not specifically its black history) and you can see it here:

https://www.ted.com/talks/cheryl_butler_a_city_s_history_and_memory

But she has also written about Southampton’s black history:

Telling other histories: Early Black History in Southampton c1500-1900

Currently unavailable on Amazon, you should be able to order a copy from your favourite local book shop, using isbn 978-0-9557488-6-8 or by e-mailing a_sannah(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)hotmail.co.uk.

Although we have not featured Southampton on Historycal Roots before it makes sense that it would have long had a black community of note. As a port, there were seamen, and where there were seamen there were black seamen. It was also home to wealthy individuals with extensive interests in the East Indies and the Caribbean, individuals some of whom most likely employed black servants.

Cheryl’s article for us focuses on one individual who makes a fleeting appearance in Southampton’s history. Very little is known of John Jackson before he was taken prisoner as a deserter and nothing is known of what became of him although we can be pretty sure his punishment would have been gruesome.

Cheryl’s article is here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/john-jackson-of-the-31st-regiment-of-foot/

Trafalgar Day – 21st October

 

21st October is the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and so we take the opportunity to remember the black sailors who served in Admiral Nelson’s fleet that day in 1805:

John Ephraim. HMS Temeraire:
John Francois. HMS Victory:
Jacob Loring. HMS Conqueror:
Cato Mumford. HMS Agamemnon:

Cato doesn’t (yet!) have his own page on Historycal Roots but is mentioned in John’s article about the York Rangers where he has this to say about him:

Cato Mumford. Cato Mumford appears to have become a Rating in the Royal Navy: In 1805 Ordinary Seaman Cato Mumford served on HMS Agamemnon at the Battle of Trafalgar. It was noted that he had joined from “Resolute G.Bg”, was 38 years old and had been born at Rhode Island, USA. (The Mumford family were one of the earliest English settlers on Rhode Island)[1]https://www.historycalroots.com/a-black-and-asian-british-regiment-the-york-rangers-a-regiment-of-lascars-mulattoes-c-c-1803-1805/
Charles Phillips. HMS Ajax:
Thomas Stanley. HMS Leviathan:
The Fighting Temeraire, tugged to her last berth to be broken up

Although this painting depicts the Temeraire on her final journey rather than at the Battle of Trafalgar, it is a magnificent painting and seems a fitting way to close this post.

References

The York Rangers, 1803 to 1805 – the making of an article

John Ellis’ latest article covers the short-lived existence of a ‘black’ regiment in the British Army, the York Rangers, that was operational from 1803 to 1805. In addition to telling the story of the regiment, John gives us an insight into his research methods.

The trigger that fired the ‘starting gun’ for John’s work was a comment he spotted in an August 1803 newspaper report (the on-going, rapid digitisation of old newspapers is a real boon for any historian), ‘Colonel Stevenson is raising, for the use of the West Indies, a Regiment of Lascars, Mulattoes &c’. The paper went on to comment that the Regiment might help tackle the problem of destitute black men on the streets of London who were in ‘the most deplorable and disgusting state of distress.’

John then identified that the ‘musters’ for the York Rangers (essentially the list of those on the payroll) were still in existence and could be viewed at the National Archives at Kew. Living in the north of England meant John would be unable to see the musters in person for some time but, for me, Kew is a short train journey  away. I was only too happy to help him out (I could happily spend every day of my life at Kew, it is a wonderful resource and completely free to use). In truth my role was that of a humble photographer, here is just one of the many photos I took:

Givins’ Troop

There were dozens of photos like this which gives you an idea of the challenge John faced. If you find it hard to read the names, trust me, the originals are little better!

These photos gave John the names of many black soldiers previously ‘lost’ to history, his next task was to cross-check the names against the various databases available on, principally,  Ancestry and findmypast – painstaking work which yielded some ‘hits’. Just how his work panned out can be seen here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/a-black-and-asian-british-regiment-the-york-rangers-a-regiment-of-lascars-mulattoes-c-c-1803-1805/

History is not set in stone, it moves on as our knowledge and understanding of the past grows. There is plenty more to be found out as my photos covered only a sample of the material and there are other names on other pages that, for now, remain hidden from view.

 

Mary Ann Aguirra – a London ‘woman of colour’

Introducing the latest article for Historycal Roots by John Ellis.

This is such an interesting one and something of a departure from John’s usual field. As he himself says, this is ‘the first time in over twenty years of researching, writing and educating’ he has written a historical article about a female, let alone a ‘woman of colour’. Let us hope it is the first of many!

This is an important subject because, again, as he comments, the voices of women of mixed heritage like Mary Ann Aguirra are rarely heard. They are marginalised by virtue of class, gender and race.  I enjoyed history at school but it was very much white history, dominated by white men and men of a particular class at that. It was only many years later that I came to understand how much more varied (and interesting!) British history is.

There are many ways of viewing the story that unfolds of Mary Ann Aguirra and her daughter, Isabella. I choose to see it as a case of a tightly knit working class community coming together and resisting threats to their way of life and livelihood, more about class than race (though that might also have played a part). But I freely acknowledge that there are other ways of reading the incidents played out at the Old Bailey in September 1866. However you read the story it is hard to dispute that Mary Ann Aguirra was a determined and formidable woman. Although we don’t have an image of Mary Ann herself there is a photo of one of her grand daughters and I like to think that we can see something of her grandmother’s character in it.

Isabella Howell, 1880-1960 (reproduced courtesy of Paul Mady)

History isn’t just about ‘facts’, it’s about interpretations too. You can read John’s article here and make up your own mind about the events, but the story of Mary Ann’s appearance at the Old Bailey is only one aspect of a thought provoking article:

https://www.historycalroots.com/mary-ann-aguirra-a-londoner-of-colour-1814-1878/

John is in more familiar territory with a second recent article. In this one  he identifies John Charles as ‘the last Black drummer’ in the British Army to have served at the time of the campaign against Napoleon. Charles left the Army in 1845 and died in 1862:

https://www.historycalroots.com/the-last-black-drummer-john-charles-of-the-32nd-foot-1808-1845/

William Buckland of Guadeloupe, Limerick and Liverpool

I expect you know where Guadeloupe is, I mean, exactly where it is, beyond ‘in the Caribbean somewhere’? I’m going to confess that I didn’t – sometimes I learn more than history from articles by John Ellis!

John’s latest contribution features William Buckland. Born on Guadeloupe in about 1786, he went on to serve in the British Army from 1810 until he retired on a small pension in 1823. His medical records show that he was ‘worn out and unable to march’ and had ‘imperfect vision of both eyes’  – not exactly conducive to life as a soldier!

The Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin, where William Buckland went for his medical examination

After leaving the Army he registered as a British Merchant Seaman from 1835 and obtained work as a cook and steward. Having retired in Limerick he moved to Liverpool, possibly driven out of Ireland (along with many others) by the Great Famine of 1845 to 1849. He spent the last years of his life working as a merchant seaman, based in Liverpool, as so many seamen were.

John’s exploration of the historic  black presence in the British Army continues apace and you can read about William Buckland here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/william-buckland-1786-1856-from-guadeloupe-to-the-fighting-fifth-limerick-and-liverpool/

An unexpected discovery in the Chatsworth House archives

The article in the link below isn’t written by regular contributor John Ellis but he has clearly made a big contribution to the research that informs it.

The story starts with the birth of Henry Tite in Waterford, Ireland, in around 1804. When Henry enlisted in the British Army in 1825 the records identify him as a black man. This raises the intriguing question of how a black man came to be born in that place at that time.

A letter recently discovered in the archives at Chatsworth House raises the possibility that Henry was descended from a young crew member of a ship that docked at Waterford in 1756. It was a French ship and, as Britain was at war with France at the time, the ship and its cargo were impounded by the British. The letter recently discovered in the archives at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire is from Lord Frederick Cavendish, stationed in Ireland at the time with troops of the 29th Worcestershire Foot Regiment, to his brother. In it he mentions ‘three little Black boys’. The boys are mentioned in the same sentence as the cargo which implies that whether they were technically ‘free’ or enslaved was a moot point as far as Lord Cavendish was concerned. In the letter he makes it clear he regards them as ‘his’ to dispose of as he chooses.

John Ellis has identified a soldier with the 29th Worcestershire Foot Regiment, Joseph Provance, who could very possibly have been one of the ‘black boys’ mentioned in the letter, the speculation is that Henry Tite may have been descended from another.

You can find out more by following the link. Before you do I would add the point that if we take literally the description of Henry Tite as ‘black’  then that suggests he had a black mother as well as a black father. That raises the even more interesting question – who was she? In fact, the balance of probability is that Henry’s mother was white and he was of mixed heritage but, as nothing is known about either of Henry’s parents that question is likely to remain unanswered.

https://www.chatsworth.org/news-media/news-blogs-press-releases/blogs-from-the-archives/who-do-you-think-they-are/