Author: eDigital

Not a Native Son

In the summer of 1953, aged seven, I arrived with my father at the port of Southampton from the colony of Nigeria, making for Ledsham Court School, a boarding school in St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex. It was a stately building sitting in many green acres. After about an hour with the…

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Lori awọn eti okun Badagri (On the shores of Badagri)

I returned to my ship from the thought-provoking dinner, disturbed by my ignorance about a trade that had played such a pivotal role in British economic history. I had been raised and educated here. But what was evident that evening was that all those around the table also shared my rankling ignorance about the slave trade. When the subject of Abolition was raised, I could feel proud spirits rising around me.

The voice of alarm in the back of my mind said it was my own fault. There and then I decided I would change that. I would find out everything I could about the slave trade. I would begin by rejecting the little I had been taught. In years to come I hoped to write a novel based on my research…

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John Ystymillyn's grave

John Ystumllyn

John Ystumllyn aka Jack Black (Jac Du in Welsh) (c.1730s-1786): St Cynhaearn's Church, Ystumllyn, Portmadoc Road, Criccieth LL52 0PS Unlike most, John Ystumllyn has a portrait of him as a young man, as well as a biography. The latter was written after his death by a local bard, Alltud Eifion,…

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Nathaniel Wells

Nathaniel Wells: St Arvans Church, 24 Wyndcliffe View, St Arvans, Chepstow NP16 6ET A memorial to Nathaniel Wells in the ancient church of St Arvans is like most others commemorating a worthy local citizen, one who had even sponsored the church’s distinctive octagonal tower. It mentions that he was the…

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McInnes memorial

Felicity Ogilvie

Felicity Ogilvie (c.1782-1831): Cardross Old Parish Church, Main Road, Cardross, Dumbarton G82 5JX A badly decayed memorial to a much-loved Grenadine nanny, Felicity Ogelvie, lies inside the burial enclosure of the McInnes family in Cardross Old Parish Church. Very little is known of Felicity’s life, other than she was born…

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Charles Murray

Charles Murray (?-1776): Trailtrow Chapel and Repentance Tower, Hoddom, Nr Lockerbie DG11 1AS High above the remains of Hoddom Castle near Lockerbie is the haunting presence of Repentance Tower, surrounded by a burial ground. Amongst the headstones is one dedicated to Charles Murray, “a native of Africa”, who died in…

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Scipio Kennedy Grave

Scipio Kennedy

Scipio Kennedy (c.1694-1774): Kirkoswald Old Parish Church and Graveyard, Ayrshire, Kirk Rd, Maybole KA19 8HZ In Kirkoswald Old Church graveyard, there is a stone commemorating the life of Scipio Kennedy erected by one of his sons, Douglas. Whilst the stone does not explicitly say that Scipio is buried there, it…

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Robert Story

‘Robert Story’ (c.1818-1848): St Modan’s Parish Church, Rosneath Road, Rosneath G84 0RQ At the edge of the kirkyard of St Modan’s old parish church is an impressive headstone dedicated to a “Robert Story”. The inscription tells us that he was captured at a very young age in western Africa and…

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https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equianocentre/blackpresenceblog/previous-posts/oct-2013

Leonora Casey Carr

Leonora Casey Carr (1808-26 April 1837): Tytherton Moravian Church, East Tytherton, Chippenham, SN15 4LX A simple slab in a Moravian churchyard was recently revealed as that of a former slave. Leonora Carr was born in Antigua, the daughter of a planter, George Carr, and a mulatto slave, Fanny Loving. As…

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http://www.oxhill.org.uk/StLawrenceChurch/SlaveGrave.htm

Myrtilla

Myrtilla (d.1706) - dated 1705, in accordance with the Old Style or Julian calendar: St Lawrence Church, Oxhill, near Stratford-upon-Avon CV35 0QZ Myrtilla’s grave is one of oldest surviving graves of someone of African descent in Britain. Although the inscription states that she was the slave of Thomas Beauchamp, the…

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