Joanna who? Read on!
A series of events are happening to celebrate the life and times of Olaudah Equiano (known in his lifetime as Gustavus Vassa). As a prelude to the events at the American International Church in Tottenham Court Road (which is on the site of Equiano’s final resting place), a small group visited the grave of Joanna Bromley at Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington.
Joanna is significant as she was Equiano’s 2nd daughter. Joanna’s sister, Anna Maria, died at the age of 3 so Joanna was the only one of Equiano’s offspring to live to adulthood. She married Henry Bromley who was a Minister in the Anglican church, at St James’ church, Clerkenwell, in 1821. she was 26. Joanna had been left a tidy sum in Equiano’s will (on her 21st birthday she came into a sum equivalent to £160,000 today) and so the likelihood is that she married for love rather than out of financial necessity.
Following the wedding, the couple moved to Appledore in Devon where Henry was a Minister. They stayed in Devon for five or six years before Henry’s work took him to Clavering in Essex. This was to be their home until 1845. Bromley resigned his post as Minister in 1845 citing his wife’s health which was ‘suffering from the injurious influence of the situation.’ Quite what the ‘situation’ was has never been established, leading to some speculation that Joanna could have been subjected to some sort of racism. The couple moved to London where Henry Bromley became secretary of the Provident Society for the Widows of Dissenting Ministers. Later he took up a Ministry in Harwich which is where he was at the time of the 1851 census. At this time Joanna was living a few miles away in the town of Stowmarket (she had a young female servant living in her household so was clearly not in financial difficulty).
Later Joanna moved back to London where she died on 10th March 1857 at the age of 61. Henry Bromley was not present at the time. As she and Henry never had children, Equiano’s blood line died with her.
Joanna died in London at the age of 61 and, as she and Henry Bromley never had children, Equiano’s blood line died with her.
Her grave was only re-discovered a few years ago and Arthur Torrington, who was our guide for the visit, described how the plot was completely overgrown and the monument broken and lying on the ground. It has been partially restored but more work is needed to return it to its original condition and make it into a more fitting memorial.
