City of Flames Trilogy

• The Defiant Mistress
• The Abducted Heiress
• The Vagabond Duchess

Other Books

• Ten Guineas on Love
• An Unsuitable Match
• The Wolf’s Promise
• Raven’s Honor
• Gifford’s Lady
• Printable Booklist

Miscellany Topic: Black People in 18th C England

Anthony Hill is a secondary character in Raven's Honor and Gifford's Lady. He is the Afro-British cousin of Cole and Gifford Raven. It may be surprising to some readers that Anthony's origins and position in the Raven household are loosely based on a the story of a real 18th century woman, Dido Elizabeth Belle. I've given more details about Dido's life below.

Brief Description of Anthony Hill

The above extract comes from Raven's Honor, slightly modified to avoid spoilers. I wrote Gifford's Lady straight after Raven's Honor. I didn't realise until it was too late that I hadn't inserted a similar description of Anthony Hill's background in the second book, so I've included it here.

The Inspiration for Anthony's Character

One day when I was browsing in a bookshop I came across Gretchen Gerzina's book, Black England: Life Before Emancipation. Until I read it, I hadn't realised just how many Black people there had been in England at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century.

But when I remembered the research I'd done into other aspects of early 19th century life, I realised they'd been there all along. They're mentioned in the memoirs of soldiers who fought in Wellington's army. They served in the Royal Navy - there was one African and 9 West Indian seamen on board the Victory at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. They appear in prints and pictures of London life.

So I decided to write a book which incorporated this less-well known aspect of early 19th century English history. Anthony Hill is a secondary character in Gifford's Lady. The main focus of the book is the romance between Sir Gifford Raven, a captain in the Royal Navy, and Miss Abigail Summers. But the research for creating Anthony's character was very interesting. I've included some of the information I discovered on this web page.

Dido Elizabeth Belle

Dido was the illegitimate daughter of Sir John Lindsay, a captain in the Royal Navy, and a woman prisoner Lindsay took from a Spanish vessel. Dido was born in England and John Lindsay acknowledged her as his daughter. She was brought up by Lindsay's uncle, Lord Mansfield. Lord Mansfield and his wife also raised Dido's cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray. Lady Elizabeth was the daughter of the English ambassador to Austria and Paris.

Dido and Lady Elizabeth grew up together, and there is a portrait of them walking arm-in-arm. Dido's position in the family is a little hazy, but it seems to have been that of a valued poor relation. She took down Lord Mansfield's correspondence, but she also received a quarterly allowance, birthday and Christmas gifts.

When Lord Mansfield died he left her £500 plus £100 a year for life. She married John Davinier in 1793 and in 1794 the name on her account in the Bank of England was changed to Davinier. In 1809 her son, Charles Davinier, applied to join the East India Company. Dido Elizabeth Davinier was buried in July 1804 in London.

Anthony Hill in Gifford's Lady

Anthony Hill is the fictional, male equivalent to Dido. Dido helped her great-uncle with his correspondence, Anthony helped his uncle, Sir Edward Raven, with his experiments.

In the fictional world of the Raven family, Sir Edward's wife died when the boys were very young. Gifford and Cole Raven and Anthony grew up in what was effectively an all male household, headed by a man who put more emphasis on his own principles rather than social convention. This upbringing has an important influence on the character and values of Cole and Gifford, as well as Anthony.

Dido was not the only inspiration for Anthony. There were several famous, and in some cases influential, Black men in England during this time period. I've mentioned a few of them below.

Well-known Black Historical Figures

Ignatius Sancho had a grocery shop in Westminster. He voted in the parliamentary elections of 1774 and 1780. His circle of friends included the Duchesses of Queensberry and Northumberland, the actor David Garrick and the writer Laurence Sterne. He was the first Afro-British playwright and art critic.

Sancho's Letters were published two years after his death. His Letters attracted over 1,200 subscribers, more than any other publication in the previous 70 years, and the first edition sold out so quickly that the Monthly Review could not obtain a review copy and had to wait for the second edition the following year.

Olaudah Equiano was captured by slavers at the age of 11. He was taught to read in London and travelled all over the world. Eventually he managed to purchase his freedom and returned to England. He collaborated with Granville Sharp, a leading anti-slavery campaigner, on a number of issues. Equiano was received by both the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Prime Minister.

Equiano was also a prolific journalist and writer. In 1788 his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African was published. The book was a best seller. Eight British editions appeared before Equiano's death. He toured England and Ireland and was everywhere "exceedingly well treated, by persons of all ranks."

Equiano married in 1792. The marriage was included in the Gentleman's Magazine's list of "Marriages and Deaths of Considerable Persons" for April 1792.

George Bridgtower was the first violinist in the Prince of Wales's private band for 14 years. In 1803 he became friends with Beethoven. The composer described Bridgtower as "a very able virtuoso and an absolute master of his instrument" and wrote a sonata for him. Unfortunately the two men later argued and Beethoven changed the dedication. The composition is now known as the "Kreutzer" sonata. Bridgtower took the degree of Bachelor of Music at Cambridge in 1811.

Ayuba Suleiman Diallo (known in England as Job ben Solomon) was the son of a Muslim high priest from a principality some distance north-west of the river Gambia. His father often sent him to sell domestic slaves. When Ayuba was on a slave-selling expedition in 1731, he was himself captured and sold to an English captain, who in turn sold him to a tobacco-planter in Maryland. Ayuba sent a letter in Arabic to his father via London, where it fell into the possession of General James Oglethorpe, the deputy governor of the Royal African Company. Oglethorpe sent Ayuba's letter to Oxford to be translated. According to The Gentleman's Magazine "The translation pleased [Oglethorpe] so much, and gave him so good an opinion of [Ayuba], that he directly ordered him to be bought from his master."

Ayuba arrived in England 1733 as the guest of the Royal African Society. He was tall, handsome and well-educated. He immediately made a good impression on the local gentry of Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, thrilling them with stories of his adventures and descriptions of the life and customs of his homeland. He was taken up by scholars and he was elected an honorary member of the Gentlemen's Society of Spalding, a distinguished antiquarian society. He was also presented to the King and Queen. Ayuba's acceptance by the English gentry and merchants is perhaps partly a reflection of the fact that he came from an equivalent social class in his own country.

There has also been a suggestion that Queen Charlotte, wife of George III and mother of the Prince Regent, had African ancestry and that this was known or guessed at by contemporaries. She was directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a Black branch of the Portuguese Royal House. An article about this appears on the blackpresence.co.uk website included in the references below.

The Black Community in London

Gifford's Lady is focussed on Abigail and Gifford's developing romance, so we rarely see Anthony interact with anyone outside his immediate circle of family and friends. However there is one very brief scene in which he visits a London alehouse which caters almost exclusively to Black customers.

By the end of the 18th century, many Black people in London had developed a sense of community and solidarity. For example, in 1772 two Black men were confined to Bridewell for begging. Approximately three hundred Black people visited them and provided for their financial support.

During an important anti-slavery court case in 1772 dozens of Black people watched from the public gallery. After the conclusion of the court case 200 Black people celebrated at a public house in Westminster. The tickets for admission to the assembly cost 5 shillings.

How Large was the Black Population in London?

Estimates vary. Evidence suggests that at the end of the 18th/beginning of the 19th century, Black people made up between 1.6% and 3% of the total London population. I find it hard to visualise percentages, so I looked up recent census results to make a comparison.

In the 2001 census for England and Wales, 6.9% of people living in Outer London had a cultural background from either the Caribbean or Africa. The figure for Inner London was 15.2% . But those numbers hide considerable variations between one borough and the next. For example, in the outer London borough in which I currently live, the figure is only 1.2%.

I came to the conclusion that, although the overall numbers and percentages were smaller 200 years ago, 18th and early 19th century Londoners lived in a visibly multi-ethnic society, just as we do today.

Who Were they?

Not all Black people were famous. Some were unquestionably slaves. There was never widespread slavery in Britain, although advertisements either selling slaves or offering a reward for runaway slaves did appear regularly, especially in towns such as Bristol, Liverpool or London which were heavily involved in the slave trade. Many others were servants.

Between 1820 and 1826 one in 40 of the beggars who came to the attention of the Society for the Suppression of Mendicity was Black.

There were also sailors, students who'd been sent to study in Britain, and musicians.

Later in the century, there were refugees from America who had fought on the British side in exchange for freedom in Britain or land in Canada.

There were several well-known Black political activists such as Olaudah Equiano (see above).

Integration

There are indications that, at least some of the time, there was tolerance, and even respect and friendship between Black and White people. Ignatius Sancho (see above) was seen as a wise and authoritative figure. He was the model for the character of Shirna Cambo in the 1790 novel Memoirs and Opinions of Mr Blenfield. According to Gretchen Gerzina in Black England "this novel is perhaps the first instance in English literature when White men visit a Black family in their home as equals, and when Black people are shown as integrated into the White English community."

Another, more anonymous example is provided by Benjamin Silliman, an American visitor to England. He recorded that in 1805 he saw on Oxford Street "a well-dressed White girl, who was of ruddy complexion, and even handsome, walking arm in arm, and conversing very sociably with a [Black] man, who was as well dressed as she."

The Slave Trade

In the examples above I've primarily focussed on privileged or successful Black individuals because they provide the real-life historical background to Anthony Hill's character. On the other side of the picture is the appalling cruelty of the slave trade and slavery. This is the ever-present grim counterpoint to the achievements of men like Ignatius Sancho or Olaudah Equiano.

The British slave trade was abolished in 1807. The Abolition of Slavery Act was passed by Parliament in 1833. Children under six years old were free from 1 August 1834, while adults and older children were to be apprentices for six years. All slaves were legally free throughout British Empire after 1838.

• Back to Top

• Gifford's Lady Description & Excerpt

(As I mentioned above, Anthony Hill is a secondary character in Gifford's Lady. The focus of the book is on Abigail and Gifford. I may write Anthony's story one day, but Gifford's Lady isn't it.)