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Abstract
When Sarah Forbes Bonetta was a young woman she faced great personal tragedy, and must have suffered great trauma, but she became a protégée of Queen Victoria, and was endorsed with all the trappings of an aristocratic upbringing. In this sense, her story is not very original, there are many histories written about women who were a part of the British and imperial aristocracy. However, this unique African woman has not been made part of them. Her biography reveals a life of privileged education, travel and access to a variety of spaces in Britain and in Africa, but her experiences illustrate that she was also vulnerable to racialization and prejudice in public and in private.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Marika Sherwood, Richard Dennis and Claire Dwyer for their help with the development of this research; also the ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship which has enabled me to write this paper.
Notes
1 This is not to say that the Windrush does not reflect an important moment in the presence of black people in Britain. It is an important reference point for black British citizens. However, there are other historical narratives that can contribute to people's sense of belonging. Among those who have attempted to reveal these histories and their importance for British identity are the CitationRowntree Commission on The Future of Multi-ethnic Britain (2000), BASA (Black and Asian Studies Association) and the Northamptonshire Black History Project.
2 Also counted among Queen Victoria's godchildren was Princess Gouramma, daughter of the Maharajah of Coorg. Three or four years older than Sarah, she lived in England from a young age and was baptized at St James’ Chapel in 1852. Queen Victoria abhorred racism, and her staunch support for her Mushi, Abdul Karim, is a reflection of the interesting personal relationship the Queen had with her diverse subjects, in contrast to the oppressive empire over which she ruled (see Visram Citation2002).
3 RA PP Vic A 38a Use of the Royal Archives (RA) was kindly granted by the permission of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
4 RA Queen Victoria's Journal, 1850.
5 RA PP Vic A38a Philips to Venn 25/1/51.
6 For more on the Committee and the black poor they served, see Fryer (Citation1984) and Fyfe (Citation1960). For the Asian presence among the migrants, see Visram (Citation2002).
7 For more on the Sierra Leone Company, which held economic and philanthropic interests in Sierra Leone from the 1790s, see Fyfe (Citation1962).
8 For a detailed history of the evolution of the colony, see Fyfe (Citation1962).
9 A paper written thirty-six years after the, by then, Bishop Crowther who had first visited the River Niger. ‘Notes on the River Niger’ was read at the Royal Geographical Society (see Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London (1876–1877), 21(6): 481–498).
10 Birmingham University Archives C A1/L4.
11 RA Queen Victoria's Journal, 1851.
12 The new middle-class in Sierra Leone was mainly made up by the ‘Creoles’—a term used to describe the descendants of recaptives. According to a tax list compiled in 1853, among the nineteen top owners of houses and land in the region, five were European, four were sons of Europeans who had African mothers, and the remainder were recaptives (Fyfe Citation1962).
13 The Brighton Herald, 16 August 1862: 2.
14 East Sussex Record Office PAR 255/1/3/35.
15 Anti-Slavery Reporter (1862) 10(9): 194.
16 The Penny Illustrated Paper, 23 August 1862: 133.
17 The Brighton Herald, 16 August 1862: 2.
18 The Brighton Herald, 16 August 1862: 2, my emphasis.
19 The Brighton Herald, 16 August 1862: 2.
20 The Brighton Herald, 16 August 1862: 2.
21 The Brighton Herald, 16 August 1862: 2.
22 The Brighton Herald, 16 August 1862: 2.
23 The Brighton Herald, 16 August 1862: 2.
24 The Brighton Herald, 16 August 1862: 2.
25 The Brighton Herald, 16 August 1862: 2; see Transactions of the Aborigines Protection Society 1896–1900: 560.
26 The Times, 31 August 1863: 7.
27 RA Queen Victoria's Journal, 1867.
28 RA PP Vic 1882/12279.
29 The Times, 9 January 1877: 11.
30 RA PP Vic 1882/12279.
31 RA PP Vic 1882/12279.
32 RA PP Vic 1882/12279.
33 RA PP Vic 1882/12279.