By Eeva Tudor
October is Black History Month, so I thought I would write an article exploring a story that fits with the themes of this month. Black History Month 2024 is all about “Reclaiming Narratives” which aims to make sure Black stories are told with the dignity, respect, pride and accuracy they deserve. By emphasising this theme, we shine a brighter light on stories, and histories of Black people through history. Communities are coming together to reclaim, retell, and celebrate the narratives that matter most.
I found a fascinating story on the Black History Month website in an article written by David Olusoga, an author who has written the fantastic book ‘Black and British’ which talks about the lives of Black people in Britain through the centuries.
In May 1850, Captain Frederick Forbes, an officer in the British Navy, visited the court of King Ghezo of Dahomey in West Africa. Forbes’ objective was to persuade King Ghezo to abandon the slave trade, although other officers had failed to convince him of the same message in the past. He brought letters to King Ghezo that told him about Britain’s opposition to the slave trade, including a personal letter from Queen Victoria, who also sent gifts of silks and cloths.
King Ghezo did not abandon the slave trade, reminding Forbes that the British had once enslaved people too. As was the custom, the King gave Forbes gifts to give to Queen Victoria, and Forbes listed the gifts in his diary: they included expensive cloth, a footstool, cowrie shells which were valuable in Africa; and a barrel of rum. There was also what Forbes described as ‘a captive girl’. The girl, who was probably seven or eight, was enslaved, and had been captured two years earlier during a war in which her parents had died. Forbes called her Sara Forbes Bonetta, after himself and his ship, the HMS Bonetta. The sailors on the ship nicknamed her ‘Sally’.
When HMS Bonetta arrived in Britain, Forbes contacted Queen Victoria and the Queen agreed to pay for Sara to go to school and to make sure she was cared for. Queen Victoria also requested that ‘Sally’ be brought to Windsor Castle to meet her. So, on 9 November 1850, the little girl made her first appearance at court “dressed as any other child,” and visitors commented that she was “sharp and intelligent”.
Many Victorian misconceptions of Black people shaped the way she lived. For example, only a year later in January 1851 Sara was sent to live in Sierra Leone, then a British colony. Supposedly, this was for her health as Victorian doctors deemed the cold British climate to be ‘unhealthy’ for Black people.
In 1862 Sara had returned to England and was living in Brighton under the care of a woman named Sophia Welsh, when a thirty-three-year-old West African businessman, James Pinson Labulo Davies took an interest in her. He decided that he wished to marry her. At nineteen, Sara wasn’t too keen on this plan but after Queen Victoria approved James, they were married that August. On her marriage certificate, she gave her name as Sara but also included her real name given by her parents- Ina.
Not long after, the two travelled back to West Africa where, in 1863, their first child was born. She was named for her Godmother, Queen Victoria who met her on 9 December 1867 when she was four. Queen Victoria gifted her a gold cup after she was christened with the inscription; “To Victoria Davies, from her godmother, Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, 1863.”
James and Sara went on to have two more children; Arthur, who was born in 1871 and Stella, born in 1873. In 1880 Sara caught tuberculosis and died, aged just thirty-seven. Queen Victoria kept on funding her goddaughter’s education and little Victoria ended up going to Cheltenham Ladies’ College. Now, Sara’s descendants live in Britain, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
Another awesome website to find out about the narratives of local people is African Lives In Northern England. It is a project that documents the stories of Black people in Northern areas of England. There are so many amazing sources out there that I would absolutely recommend looking into to find out more.
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