Black Heritage Records in England

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: England
Surname/tag: BLACK_HERITAGE

England Project | Topics Teams

Please edit this page and add relevant records by scrolling to the bottom of this page and adding lines to the table just before the final line ( which has |} in ). See help page on editing tables.

This page exists to collect records of people in England in the 1700s and 1800s whose black heritage is clear from the record, primarily because such records sometimes give a forename with no surname, which would make them very difficult to locate using standard online search methods. Employer is used in the heading for brevity so more can be fitted in the other columns, and in theory slavery was never legal in England, but slaves were brought from other countries and kept in effective slavery by those who brought them, and in some cases for Employer read Owner.

This page is not really meant for records of people whose surname is recorded and who has a profile, or it will get unwieldy. But it might be useful to keep records where only a forename is recorded here for reference, even after a profile is made.

You can sort the table in various orders by clicking the hourglass symbols in the blue header line.

Some records have been added based on secondary sources, care should be taken to verify them before further use.

See also https://sites.rootsweb.com/~hibernia/baptisms/black_baptisms.html (baptisms from Toxteth Park registers but without dates)

Year	Name	Employer	Details	Source
1813	Joseph	Atkinson	Died in wreck of Rothsay Castle 18 Aug 1813 aged 14, had run away a few days before and been forcibly returned; ship's master Lieutenant John Atkinson, ship's owner Mr William Watson of Liverpool (merchant), Atkinson had the power to dismiss crew but not without informing Watson	Adshead, Joseph. A circumstantial narrative of the wreck of the Rothsay Castle steam packet : on her passage from Liverpool to Beaumaris, August 17, 1831. (Liverpool : D. Marples and Co, 1834). Accessed on https://archive.org/details/circumstantialna00adshiala/page/302/mode/2up
1736	Sambo		Young black servant from West Indies, died on arrival at Sunderland, buried in a field near Sunderland Point, gravestone erected 1796	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1720	Scipio Africanus	William	Servant of Charles William Earl of Suffolk, died 31? Dec 1720 aged 18, buried near Bristol	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1803	Mary Southworth		"A mulatto woman in Preston". Bequeathed £20 per annum in the will of William Atherton (1742-bef.1803), provided she made no claims against him.	Will of William Atherton - National Archives Reference: IR 26/425/852. Description: Abstract of Administration of William Atherton of Prescot, Lancashire. Proved in the Court of York. Date: November 10 1803. Accessed on https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7207252
1834	George John Scipio Africanus		Born Sierra Leone, brought to Wolverhampton as a child, after death of master moved to Nottingham, married Ester & ran a successful Employment Agency there, had children, died 1834 aged 71, buried St Mary's Church Nottingham	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1767	Chloe Gambia	Aston	bapt 1767 St Peter's Church Aston-by-Sutton aged about 7, d 12 Sep 1838	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1821	Joseph Nibbs		"Man of colour" from St Kitts, cook on the Blenden Hall, lost in first venture for help following wreck of the ship in 1821 off Ascension Island. Place of residence not known, voyage was from England.	Aberdeen Press and Journal 8 January 1823. Also Greig, Alexander M. Fate of the Blenden Hall, East Indiaman ... bound to Bombay : with an account of her wreck, and the sufferings and privations endured by the survivors for six months, on the desolate islands of Inaccessible and Tristan d'Acunha. (New York: W.H. Colyer, 1847). https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044019421171&view=1up&seq=78&q1=muster
1767	Chloe Gambia	Aston	d 12 Sep 1838 of breast cancer, bur St Peter’s Church, Aston-by-Sutton (bap 1767)	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1705	Myrtilla	Beauchamp	Slave of Mr Thos Beauchamp of Nevis (in the Caribbean). Bap 20 Oct (presumably 1705), bur 6 Jan 1705, Oxhill, Warwickshire	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1841	Jacob Walker	Long	Slave of George & Harriet Long who lived in Virginia and moved to England bringing him with them, he was then a servant and paid a wage. Died at Highgate London 12 Aug 1841 aged 39.	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1784	Philip Scipio	Wharton	Died 1784 aged about 18. Servant of Duke of Wharton. Gravestone at St Martin’s Church, Werrington, Cornwall.	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1809	George Edward Doney	Essex	Born Gambia, kidnapped and sold in America as a slave. Died 3 Nov 1809. Buried St Mary’s, Church Street, Watford, Hertfordshire. Worked for 5th Earl of Essex at Cassiobury 44 years. Obituary in Gentleman’s Magazine, and headstone.	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1762	Charles Bacchus	Bond	Died 31 Mar 1762 aged 16. Buried St Mary’s Church, Culworth. Servant and slave to Richard Bond	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1766		Caster	Buried St Augustine’s Church Bristol, slave to Captain Caster.	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1770		Harwood	Buried St Augustine’s Church Bristol, slave to Captain Harwood.	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1778	Ned		Aged 12. Buried Quakers Friars, Bristol. Servant to a friend of the Champion family (Quakers).	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1829	Felicity Ogilvie	McKinnon	Native of West Indies. Nanny to Miss McKinnon of Auchenfroe, Cardross. Died 22 May 1829 aged 19? or 41?, buried Cardross Church	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1801	I.D.		Native of Africa, died 9 Sep 1801, buried at Church of St John the Baptist, Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire. Has been linked to a burial record for a John Davies on 12 Sep 1801 by an annotation added later.	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1822	Rasselas Bellfield	Taylor	Abyssinian (Ethiopian); died 16 Jan 1822 aged 32, lived free in Britain, buried Windermere	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1839	Rasselas Morjan	Palmer	Abyssinian (Ethiopian); died 25 Aug 1839 aged 18, had been rescued from slavery & then employed by the Palmers of Wanlip Hall	https://blackpresence.co.uk/slave-graves/
1822	Samuel Ally		From St Helena; freed from slavery; died 28 May 1822 aged 18, inscription by his grateful master on gravestone in Windleshaw Chantry, St Helens, Merseyside	Photo on Chantry St Helens FB group
1717	Abell		Buried 1 Oct 1717 at St Nicholas' Church, Liverpool. Gravestone unveiled Oct 2020.	Source https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-54387940 (has gravestone photo)
1939	Marie Negro		Born 17 Nov 1894, married, living as paid domestic help in household of Harry and Emma White, Rothwell, Northamptonshire	* 1939 Register: "1939 England and Wales Register" The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: RG 101/6121D Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 61596 #37000322 (accessed 22 November 2021) Marie Negro (born 17 Nov 1894), married, Paid Domestic Duties, at 43, Rothwell, Northamptonshire, England.