John Dixon (c.1766-1841): Morecambe Parish Church, Morecambe, Lancaster LA4 5PZ Most of our knowledge about the life of John Dixon is contained in his epitaph. The church’s website provides a plan of the location of the graves: John Dixon is in plot 33, and Lodge family, his masters, in neighbouring…
Category: Slave Graves
Sambo
‘Sambo’ (died c.1736): Mouth of the Lune Estuary near Sunderland Point LA3 3JF The identity of the young boy – ‘Sambo’ – will never be known, but his final resting place is a poignant testimony to both the horrors of slavery and the abolitionist’s struggle. Local stories abound of how…
Unknown African boy
‘Unknown African boy’ (d.1830): St Martin’s Church, St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly TR25 0QL The Isles of Scilly saw many ships sail past in the pursuit of the slave trade and the products thereof. The difficult waters, however, caused many a shipwreck, sometimes aided by the people ashore. One of…
Samuel Ally
Samuel Ally (c.1804-1822): Old Kirk Braddan Church, Saddle Rd, Douglas IM4 4LA Samuel Ally was born a slave on the island of St Helena. He was granted his freedom by the island’s governor, Colonel Marks Wilks. Samuel’s fate was to change with the arrival of Napoleon. It was decided in…
George Edward Doney
George Edward Doney (c.1757-1809): St Mary's Parish Church, Church St, Watford WD18 0EG George Edward Doney was born in the Gambia and transported as a slave to Virginia, where he probably worked on a tobacco or sugar plantation. By the age of eight, in around 1765, he came to Watford…
James Long and Charles Morson
James Long (d.1773) and Charles Morson (d.1776): St Mary's Church, Church Road, Almondsbury BS32 4DT Documents from Gloucestershire Records Office show that James Long (d. 17 March 1773) and Charles Morson (d. 16 Feb 1776) were both interred at St Mary’s Church in Almondsbury, close to Bristol. The inscription was…
Charles Ashume
Charles Ashume (d.1721) St Mary the Virgin, English Bicknor, Balls Hill, Coleford GL16 7PG Close to the east window of the parish church in the hamlet of English Bicknor is the tomb of Charles [Ashume]. The remaining inscription reads: “a black servant to Mr George Wyrall who departed this life…
Thomas Bloomsbury
Thomas Bloomsbury (d.1829): St Mary’s, Church Street, Newent GL18 1AB Gloucestershire Record Office has prepared a useful source of “References to Black & Asian People, pre-1939”. It notes that a headstone in the churchyard of St Mary’s remembers Thomas Bloomsbury, “a native of Africa and for ... 55 years a…
Joseph Freeman
Joseph Freeman (c.1830-1875): Chelmsford Cemetery, Writtle Road, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 3BL Joseph Freeman was born a slave in New Orleans in around 1830. At the beginning of the American civil war, he somehow managed to escape to England. He married a Suffolk woman, Sarah, and they had several children together.…
Tom M S Highflyer
Tom M S Highflyer (c.1857-1870): Woodvale Crematorium, Woodvale Drive, Lewes Road, Brighton BN2 3QB. Tucked away in an overgrown corner of the sprawling Woodvale Cemetary on the outskirts of Brighton is the grave of Tom M S Highflyer. For many years his story was unknown, but research by the Brighton…