At Historycal Roots it is probably fair to say that our main focus has been on 20th century Black British history. While we have published articles about the likes of Olaudah Equiano and Dido Elizabeth Belle from the 18th Century, and Sarah Forbes Bonetta and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor from the 19th century, they have been very much outnumbered by articles about the 20th century, in particular from the period post-1948. We know some historians believe that focusing on the ‘Windrush generation’ risks obscuring the importance of the black presence in Britain before 1948. Perhaps we have been a little bit guilty of that.
The 19th century was massively significant. It saw the abolition of the slave trade in 1807, the abolition of the institution of slavery in the British colonies in 1834, the growth of Pan-African sentiment and much more besides. Peter Fryer made the point in his seminal book ‘Staying Power’ that, following abolition, the Black presence in Britain had largely become an ‘indivisible part of the urban poor’ and that the records detailing their existence were ‘obscure and scattered.’ Of course Fryer’s book was published in 1984 and since then great strides have been made in filling in the gaps. Until now we probably haven’t done justice to this period of Black British history. Over the coming months we hope to start gradually redressing the balance.
Of course, dividing history neatly into ‘centuries’ is problematic. Dido was born in 1761 and died in 1804, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was born in 1875 and died in 1912, the lives of both therefore neatly straddled two centuries. Decisions about which century to put them into does feel a bit arbitrary. Nevertheless, we felt that our site, as it grew exponentially, was becoming more difficult to navigate. The division of our material into centuries (this page is a first step in the re-structuring of our material) is intended to help you find what you are looking for more easily.
The United Service – detail 
Sarah Bonetta Forbes-Davies 
Major (Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel) James John Hugonin, 4th Light Dragoons, with his black trumpeter and the regiment beyond, c.1820.