Black People in Britain

There are records of black visitors to these shores from the time of the Roman occupation. The continuous history of black people in Britain dates from the mid-16th century and the beginning of the slave trade. Queen Elizabeth I tried to prevent wealthy traders and landowners from having black servants while she kept several at court.

The numbers of black people steadily increased during the 17th and 18th centuries. Young slaves were in demand as household servants. They were popular with officers from slave ships and with West Indian planters who wished to continue the privileged way of life they had enjoyed in the colonies. Little black pageboys in fancy clothes were fashionable status symbols for upper-class families. They became less desirable when they grew up and were often ill-treated and abandoned.

Hogarth A Harlots Progress (detail)

	A few black people arrived in England as members of the armed forces. Some had joined ships as sailors while others served in the American War of Independence. After the Peace of 1783, many came to London, were unable to find work and joined the distressed poor. Black beggars were known as St Giles blackbirds. The legal position of black people who had been brought to Britain as slaves remained uncertain until slavery was abolished in 1833. The Church played an important role in the fight against slavery since it was popularly believed that baptism set a slave free. But several court cases failed to resolve the question of whether a West Indian slave became free in England. The Somersett Case of 1772 ruled that a slave could not be deported to the West Indies against his or her will and was widely regarded as the abolition of slavery in Britain. The solution for many black people, however, was self-emancipation or running away.
			Sarah Forbes Bonetta; as a child given as a gift by the King of Dahomey to Captain Frederick Forbes RN.