Deptford Slavery Map Launch

A campaign group has been set up with the goal of establishing a Museum of Slavery and Freedom (M ō S a F) on the site of the old Royal Naval Dockyard on the bank of the River Thames at Deptford:  'The museum will focus on the role of Deptford, London and the Royal Navy in the triangular slave trade and demonstrate how the UK grew rich as a result of their activities. It will celebrate the way freedom from the trade was won and explore how the legacy of slavery lives on today'.

On Saturday 12th February at 3 pm they will be launching a new Map of Deptford's links to slavery and freedom. The event will take place at the studio of Empathy & Risk, 1 Borthwick Street, London SE8 3GH (by Twinkle Park).  Among those present will be Dr Helen Paul (Lecturer in Economics and Economic History, University of Southampton), who researches the slave trade, and artist Keith Piper -  among other things a founder of the  BLK arts group.

Keith Piper, Go West Young Man (1987)

MōSaF say: 'There are few memorials to the slave trade in the UK’s capital, an astounding gap in the country’s cultural landscape. Our railway system, cotton and coal industries, the City of London and the Country House movement all owe a substantial economic debt to the trade in humans. The MōSaF Map is unique because it goes local. Deptford provides a historical snapshot of how, and exactly where on our streets, our citizens and businesses engaged in the trade in humans. Deptford is also home to key landmarks in the fight for abolition'

See previous Transpontine posts on this subject:

Haberdashers, Hatcham and Slavery

An anti-slavery speech in Deptford 1830

Deptford's Runaway Slaves

An Anti-Slavery Speech in Deptford, 1830

In November 1830 one B.C. Challis gave a lecture that was published shortly after as 'The Substance of a Speech on Negro Slavery. Delivered at the Rev. Mr. Barker's Chapel, High Street, Deptford, on Tuesday Evening, 2nd November, 1830'. The whole text is available to read online and while some of the language is archaic, it is a passionately argued case for the abolition of slavery.

Modern historians of slavery are quite rightly critical of a narrative of British 'white saviours' leading the abolitionist fight, and there is scepticism about the motives of some who may have been concerned for instance with wider colonial interests (such as undermining the French in the Caribbean who were arguably more dependent on the slave trade continuing).

It is important to recognise that slaves themselves continually resisted slavery and in this sense were a key driving force in its abolition.  There is an echo of this within this speech, with a reference to the successful slave revolution in Haiti (described as Saint Domingo here): 'Who can for a moment doubt that this great island, under the dominion of a free negro population, situate in the very centre of the West Indies, and contiguous to the large and populous islands of Cuba and Jamaica on the one side, and Porto Rico on the other; who I ask, can doubt that the government of that island, will take every occasion to stir up the surrounding slaves to insurrection?'. The author uses this threat to argue that the abolition of slavery is actually in the interests of the 'white inhabitants' as the alternative is that 'the lives and immense property of the colonists be thus exposed to destruction'.

Some of the specific proposals put forward here seem rather feeble now, such as the suggestion of gradually abolishing slavery by starting with young women (whose children would then be born free).

Nevertheless it is also important to acknowledge that rank and file slavery abolitionists were putting forward what was, in the context of the growing British Empire, a principled and radical assertion of equality and opposition to racism. 

Of course there is criticism of how slaves are treated:  'And, now then ye degraders of humanity ! -the best of your slaves are allowed but one pint of corn meal for their day's allowance, which is no more, and no better, than that which every gentleman's sporting dog has in England. They are flogged - abused and mutilated, whether feeble, decrepid, or lame, - spurred on to a laborious task, in a sultry climate, without encouragement or reward'. 

But more than this there is a recognition that slaves are people with the same rights to liberty as anybody else: ' although the system of negro slavery demands all the force of intellect in its defence, yet it requires only a sense of justice , an universal sentiment of execration, and a determined intention to do unto others , "as we would they should do unto us ”.  It requires I say, only the belief and practice of that one golden precept of our holy religion, to induce us, at once, to hate, to despise, and to abolish it [...] I am sure you must all feel such a just sense of horror at the thraldom, which is entailed upon the black, by his merciless owner, who differs from him only in the colour of his skin, and an anxious desire of breaking their bonds?'. 

At the end of this meeting in Deptford, 'Several resolutions were then read and carried, and a Petition praying the Total Extinction of Colonial Slavery adopted'. Those involved obviously wanted to disseminate the message further as they took the trouble to print it. We are told that it was available in Deptford 'sold by Warcup, Broadway; Ellis, Lower Road' and W. Brown, printer, High Street; also by J. Cole, London Street, Greenwich'.

Barker's Chapel in Deptford High Street, 1839 - I believe location was approximately where the Poundland shop now stands, next to the former Mechanics Arms (now Tomi's Kitchen restaurant). The 

(picture from British Library). The building was replaced by a substantial Congregational Church in the 1860s.

1850 sketch showing the chapel next to pub and railway line

More posts on slavery and South East London

Haberdashers, Hatcham and Slavery

[UPDATE - September 2021 - Haberdashers schools have now confirmed that they are removing the Aske part of their name, as well as dropping their archaic motto of 'serve and obey'. The New Cross school will 'seek to re-purpose the statue of Aske at Hatcham College... and aim to contextualise it in a way that ensures alignment with the Trust’s values and longer-term educational objectives' - see Haberdashers schools statement on outcome of consultation. As Reclaim EC1 notes, it is unclear whether masonic lodges historically associated with the schools will be making similar changes and it appears that the Aske charity administered by the Haberdashers Company will also be retaining its name. See also Sanjit Chudha's post on this - Sanjit did some of the early work on this, including researching and editing Aske's wikipedia entry and lobbying the school] 

The Haberdashers' Aske's school in New Cross is reported to be considering the implications of the links between Robert Aske (after whom the school is named) and slavery, with press coverage suggesting that a change of name is being considered. A statement issued by the school's sponsor, the Haberdashers Company, states:

'The Haberdashers’ Company and its Schools in Elstree and South London have become aware that Robert Aske was a shareholder in the Royal African Company (RAC).  All are clear that the role of the RAC in the slave trade was deplorable and sits in stark contrast with the values which underpin the activities and philosophy of the Company, its schools and beneficiaries today.  The schools are already engaged in comprehensive reviews of culture, values and their brands and this matter will be included.  The outcome of these fully consultative deliberations, including the future use of the Aske name, will be communicated when conclusions are reached and decisions made.  The Haberdashers’ Company is proud of its ethos of benevolence, fellowship and inclusion, and the diverse nature of its membership'.

I have been looking into slavery and the New Cross area for a while,  now seems a good time to summarise some of what we know - or ought to know.

Haberdashers and slavery

The Haberdashers' schools in South London and elsewhere have their origins in the Haberdashers' Aske's charity, established with funds bequeathed by Robert Aske (1619-1689) and managed by the Haberdashers company, one of the City of London livery companies.

The current Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College (as it is now known) was built on Pepys Road in New Cross in 1875 expanding on to a second site in Jerningham Road in 1889. The Haberdashers Company owned most of the land in the New Cross area at this point. A 19th century statue of Robert Aske stands in the forecourt of the school's Pepys Road site.

It is now well established that Robert Aske was one of the early investors in the Royal African Company, holding £500 of stock. According to historian William Pettigrew, the RAC 'shipped more enslaved African women, men and children to the Americas than any other single institution during the entire period of the transatlantic slave trade' (Freedom's Debt: The Royal African Company and the Politics of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1672-1752, 2013) including more than 150,000 slaves forcibly transported to the British Caribbean.

Aske was neither the first nor last member of the Haberdashers' Company to invest in slaving. For instance William Garrard (1507-1571), sometime Lord Mayor of London, helped develop the slave trade by funding the early slaving voyages of John Hawkins.

A contemporary of Aske's, Jeremy Sambrooke (died 1704) was a director of the Royal African Company as well as a member of the Haberdashers Company. In the same period at least two masters of the Haberdashers Company were also directors of the RAC:  John Lawrence (died 1692) holding £1,600 of stock and Arthur Ingram (1617-1681) holding £1500 of stock.  Both were also directors of the East India Company which was likewise involved in slavery in this period as well as beginning its colonial expansion in India which the Company was eventually to rule (see more at Reclaim EC1 on slavery and the City of London).

The Haberdashers' Company was also involved with the early 17th century Ulster Plantation, whereby land confiscated by the Crown from its Irish owners was given to City Livery Companies. Their mission was to clear Irish catholic tenants and replace them with English and Scottish protestant settlers who it was hoped could be relied upon to be loyal to the Crown - paving the way for centuries of sectarian conflict.

In short an honest assessment of the links between the Haberdashers Company, slavery and colonialism would have to look a lot wider than the technical details of Robert Aske's share holding in the Royal African Company.

Jonathan Lucas

A more recent local slaver was Jonathan Lucas II, who owned slave plantations and hundreds of slaves in South Carolina, where his father (also Jonathan Lucas) had become wealthy through his rice mill business.  'Lucas and his family were at the centre of Charleston's cosmopolitan society'  but following the suppression of a planned slave uprising there in 1822, 'Jonathan II settled his family at Hatcham Grove House in New Cross, where the family lived from 1824 to 1834' (R. Williams III & A.L. Lofton, Rice to Ruin: The Jonathan Lucas Family in South Carolina, 1783-1929). This was a mansion in its own grounds situated between what is now Erlanger Road and Pepys Road at the bottom of Telegraph Hill.  

Hatcham Grove House, sometime home of the Charleston slave plantation owner Jonathan Lucas. In the 1850s it became a school for the children of Warehousemen and Clerks 

Anti-slavery 

It is sometimes argued that it is anachronistic to criticise those involved in slavery in the past, on the grounds that we are applying modern moral standards to different times. The implication is that nobody knew that slavery was wrong at the time.

In fact there were opponents of slavery from very early on - not least the slaves themselves of course! Deptford's John Evelyn, also connected to the slave trade, mentions a planned slave revolt in Barbados in his diary for 1692. He also discusses the ethical question of whether slaves should be baptised, something opposed by many slave masters as they feared even this recognition of their captives' humanity.

The long opposition to slavery is documented in a book largely written in New Cross more than 200 years ago. The History of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade (1808) was written by the slavery abolitionist Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846), much of it while staying as a guest of the Hardcastle family at  Hatcham House in New Cross (grounds bordered by what is now Hatcham Park Road). Clarkson was one of the founders of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1787, and among other things had travelled to Paris after the French Revolution in an effort to persuade France to abolish slavery. Clarkson is unsparing in documenting the cruelties of slavery and denouncing 'the oppressors of the African race'. He also traces the history of opposition to slavery right back to the start of the slave trade in the 16th century. Among the arguments he quotes is an 18th century text by Humphry Primatt: 'It has pleased God to cover some men with white skins and others with black; but as there is neither merit nor demerit in complexion, the white man, notwithstanding the barbarity of custom and prejudice, can have no right by virtue of his colour to enslave and tyrannize over the black man'. Anti-racism was not invented in the 20th century!

There is a plaque on the Haberdashers' school site in Jerningham Road to the poet Robert Browning, whose family home was on the grounds of what later became the school. Browning's father, who lived there, had once been sent to St Kitts to manage a family owned plantation with slaves, though apparently he returned home unhappy with the cruelty of the plantation system (see Browning and Slavery).

The 'Black Lives Matter' movement has highlighted some of these historic connections and its supporters have been accused of wanting to rewrite history. But much of the history of slavery and its role in British society has never been written in the first place. 

Still at least in New Cross the statue of Olaudah Equiano - once forced back into slavery in Deptford - stares across Telegraph Hill Park on the other side of which stands the statue of Robert Aske. As to which of these two should be honoured by children in a 21st century multi-cultural South London school I leave that to you to judge.

Of course there's a whole lot more to be said about slavery and South London, here's a few previous pieces: 

Paul Hendrich on the statues on Deptford Town Hall in New Cross

Deptford's Runaway Slaves

'South London and Negro Emancipation' - 1863 anti-Slavery meeting at the Elephant & Castle

Edit September 2021 - an earlier version of this post suggested that the Jonathan Lucas named above was connected to the Lucas family who developed the Deptford New Town/St John's area of Lewisham and after whom Lucas Street SE8 and Lucas Vale Primary School are named. This claim is repeated in a number of publications and online sources, but further research has not substantiated this connection. Unless further evidence is found it would appear that there were two separate wealthy Lucas families living locally in the 19th century. However it does get very confusing trying to separate them in the historical record! 

Blood and Sugar - 'Deptford is a slaving town, is it not?'

'Blood and Sugar' by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (Pan, 2020) is essentially a murder mystery set in late eighteenth century Deptford - 1781 to be precise.  Without giving too much away of the plot, a slavery abolitionist is brutally killed and his friend sets out to investigate. He is obstructed in his enquiries by the local magistrate and by the West India lobby - the wealthy and powerful opponents of any changes to slavery, particular in the lucrative Caribbean sugar plantations.

'Deptford is a slaving town, is it not?' a character asks at the start of the novel, and over the course of the story it is shown that many do have an interest in the slave trade in one way or another. 

The author has done her local history research, correctly noting that 'the town comprised two separate settlements, joined by a road which cut through open field. Deptford Broadway was where the town's merchants lived... Deptford Strand lay nearly a mile to the north, on the banks of the River Thames, and comprised the Public  and Private Docks, the Navy Yard, and workers' housing'. Much of the action takes places in pubs and warehouses near the river front, but with forays into the wealthier houses of the Broadways where some slaves and former slaves work as domestic servants.

The full story of Deptford and slavery remains to be told, and even now there are some who would prefer that we pretend that the area's maritime history is just a lot of  unproblematic messing about on boats. This fictional work puts slavery front and centre, where it belongs.

See previously:

John Evelyn and slavery

Deptford's Runaway Slaves

Deptford's runaway slaves

The Runaway Slaves project based at the University of Glasgow is gathering information from one key source: adverts placed in 18th century British newspapers offering a reward for the return of black people who had run away. Some runaways were working as household servants, others on ships. All were treated as property to be captured and brought back to their owner.

Searching on the database, I have found 18 adverts which mention Deptford, covering 23 runaways - summarised in the table below.

As an example here's an advertisement placed in the the 'Public Advertiser' on 13th March 1759. Two men, Thomas Douglas and Theodore Legrass, are said to have 'run from on board the Trueman at Deptford'. This was a ship docked at Deptford, with the runways 'belonging to Capt. Nicholas Comyn'. Another advert from the same year mentions another runaway from the same ship, with the information that 'whoever apprehends the said Negro Slave and brings him to Mr. Comyn, at his House in Paradise Street, Rotherhith, shall receive three Guineas'.

Taken together these adverts tell us something about the relationship between Deptford and slavery. Firstly with its docks and shipyards, Deptford was a point on the maritime network linking the key sites of enslavement in Africa, the Caribbean and America. Adverts mention ships at Deptford bound for or from Jamaica, Barbados and Maryland.

Secondly, Deptford was a place to escape and to hide. Escaping from ships at sea is very difficult, when they reach land there is a window of opportunity and quite of a few of these cases relate to people leaving ships while moored at Deptford. Those escaping may have hoped to get on board another ship and leave the country - a couple of adverts mention runaways potentially making their way to Gravesend for this purpose. Or they may have decided to try their luck 'disappearing' in London. One advert mentions that 'it is imagined they are still in the neighbourhood of Deptford', suggesting that this was a place where black people could stay without immediately standing out - there were certainly other black people including former slaves living locally at this time.

Finally, these adverts show how large parts of society in Deptford and elsewhere were implicated in slavery and this case in the hunting down of runaways.  The newspapers printing adverts, the coffee houses and pubs where slaves or information were to be brought (the Angel and Still pub in Deptford is mentioned), the docks and the ships were all involved one way or another. In the case of a ‘little black Indian Boy' in 1772, the advice was simply to  'bring him to the Porter of Deptford-Yard'.

Name/Description	Year	Circumstances
‘a Negro man of middle stature, well set, full face, speaks very broken English’	1701	‘Deserted Sunday the 25th of this instant Sept. from the Ship Maryland Merchant, lying at Deptford Red-house’ [the Red House, later the Victualling Yard, was located where the Pepys Estate now stands]
‘A Negro Boy about 12 Years old, call’d James Pancridge’	1705	‘Went away from his Master Captain Jonas Hanway, Commander of Her Majesty’s Ship the Tilbury at Deptford’ [HMS Tilbury was a Royal Naval ship built at Chatham dockyard and launched in 1699 and broken up in 1726]
‘A Black, by name Harry, about 21 years of Age, his Head half shaved, a cut in his Face by the kick of a Horse, bandy Leg’d	1705	'Run away from on board the S[a]muel, R. Holland Master from Barbadoes then lying at Deptford'
‘a Negro Man named Lime-house, aged 32 Years, born in Guinea, smooth faced, with short thick Fingers, about 5 Foot 6 Inches high’	1711	‘Run away the 9th of September last from on board the Ship Alexander, lying in the lower Wet Dock near Deptford’
‘an Indian Black named Will Ralph, aged about 18 or 20 Years, middle sized, wearing his own Hair which is inclin’d to Curl’	1713	‘Run away the 3d Instant from on Board the Ship Arden lying at Deptford and bound to Maryland…  Whoever brings him, or gives Notice where he is, (so that he be taken) to Captain Richard Read Commander of the said Ship at his House in Rotherhith, or to Mr John Bodicoate next Lloyd’s Coffee-house in Lombard-street, shall have 10 s. Reward’.
‘A Well-set Negro, commonly call’d Sugar, Aged about Twenty Years, Teeth broke before, and several Scars in both his Cheeks and Forehead’	1718	‘absented from his Master, whoever secures him, and gives Notice to Benjamin Maynard at the Angel and Still at Deptford shall have a Guinea Reward’
‘a black Indian Boy…  He has a Scar in his right Cheek, a Piece out of one of his Ears, and a dark Coat with Brass Buttons’.	1735	‘went from his Master, having robb’d him, whoever will give Notice to Mr. Brook’s, Cutler in Mark-lane, London, Mr. Hyate’s at Deptford’
‘a Black Maid, named Flora, alias Lucy, aged about twenty Years, mark’d betwixt the Eyes and on her Chin with small black Strokes, much blacker than any other Part of her Face, likewise on her Arms, after the Manner of the Country from whence she came’	1742	‘absented from Mrs. Cuming, in Union-Street, Deptford, the 26th of May last’
‘a Negro Man, named Yok, speaks French, and very little English, low of Stature, bow legged. Also, another named Peter, of middle Stature, speaks French and English’	1758	‘run away from the Ship Nevis Planter…  Whoever will bring the above Negroes on board the said Ship at Deptford, or give Intelligence where they may be had, shall receive two Guineas per each’
‘Negro Slave, named Theodore, speaks the French Tongue, born at Martinico, about 5 Feet 6 Inches high, had on when he run away a blue Jacket, and a green one under, wearing a Hat and Wig’	1759	‘run away on Sunday Night the 11th inst. from on board the Truman, now in Mess. Well’s Dock, Deptford… Whoever apprehends the said Negro Slave and brings him to Mr. Comyn, at his House in Paradise Street, Rotherhith, shall receive three Guineas Reward with reasonable Charges…It is imagined he may attempt escaping on board some of the Foreign Ships now in the River; the Clearing Officers at Gravesend are requested to examine the said Ships’
‘a Negro Man, named Thomas Douglas, belonging to Capt. Nicholas Comyn: he is about 25 Years old, 5 Feet 6 Inches high, well-set and well-limbed… And at the same Time for Theodore Legrass, who run away from the said Ship’	1759	‘Run from on board the Trueman at Deptford… Whoever apprehends the said Negro Man, and brings him on board the said Ship, will be paid Ten Guineas…It is imagined they are still in the Neighbourhood of Deptford’
‘the following Negro Men, viz. Boatswain, Johnny Mass, Jack Black, and Harry Green; they are all stout able young Men, about 5 Feet 8 Inches high, and had on when they went away blue Jackets’	1759	‘absented themselves yesterday from on board the Ship Hampden, Richard Mackenzie, Commander, while she lay repairing in Stanton’s Dock, near Deptford… it is imagined they are gone down to Gravesend, and will endeavour to get away in some outward-bound Ships’.
‘a Negro Man, named Peter, about 5 feet 10 Inches high, pitted with the Small-pox, speaks good French, (but no English) had on a blue Jacket and blue Cloth Cap, checked Shirt and Woollen Drawers, has Several Scars on his Back, and a large Scald on his left Foot’	1759	‘Run away on Friday last from the Snow Montresor, Alexander Claxton, Master, lying at Deptford’
‘a Mulatto Frenchman, about 35 Years Old, of a dark Complexion, five Feet nine Inches high, named John Peter; he had on a Pair of new Duck Trowsers, Canvas Frock, blue Jacket, and wears a brown Grogoe; he says he is a Dutchman, but can't speak the Language; talks a little English’	1760	‘ran away on Friday the 11th instant, from on Board a Hulk at Deptford’
‘A  Negro Man, well known by the Name of SAM BLACK, aged about Twenty-four Years, five Feet, one or two Inches high, much pitted with the Small-pox, of the smaller Kind, a remarkable flat Nose, jolly, and is well limbed; he had on when he went away, a brown Fustian Coat, with a red Collar, and broad metal Button, a red Cloth Waistcoat, Plush Breeches, Stone Buckles in the Knees, Silver Shoe Buckles, and old laced Hat, and a black Bob Wig’	1761	‘Deserted from his Majesty’s Ship Leostroffe, Capt. Stirling, at Deptford’
'a Negro Man, named QUAO; speaks bad English, a stout Fellow, with large Feet, and four or five Scars on his Forehead, wearing a blue, white or red Jacket'.	1766	‘run away, the 18th Instant, from on board the Ship Lyon, Laurence Irvine, Commander, now lying at Deptford, bound to Jamaica’
‘a Black Boy, the Property of Mr. Andrew Lucy… He is about four Feet nine Inches high, has long Hair, is well made, and speaks English well; has on a light coloured Great-coat, brown Waistcoat with mixed Lace, blue Breeches, and a black Velvet Cap’.	1772	‘run away this Morning, and is supposed to be near the Parish of St. James’s, Westminster, or some Part of London, Highgate, or Deptford’.
‘little black Indian Boy, about 11 or 12 Years old, with black Hair cut short. He had on when he went away a blue Jacket, with red Cuffs and Collar, blue Cloth Breeches, with red Button-Holes’	1772	‘If any Person can give Account of him so as he may be found again, or bring him to the Porter of Deptford-Yard, they shall be rewarded for their Trouble. And if any Person harbours him after this Advertisement they will be prosecuted as the Law directs’

'South London and Negro Emancipation' - 1863 anti-Slavery meeting at the Elephant & Castle

Events in the last few years have reminded us that there is still a lot of unfinished business from the American Civil War. The flag of the defeated Southern states is still a rallying point for racists, and since the start of the Black Lives Matters movement Confederate statues have been a  renewed focus of controversy.  Race and specifically slavery were at the heart of the rebellion of the South, something that was recognised worldwide at the time. Following President Lincoln's anti-slavery Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Karl Marx famously drafted an Address to Lincoln on behalf of the International Workingmen's Association.

Mass meetings were held across Britain in support, including one at the Elephant and Castle, as reported in the South London Chronicle (7 February 1863) under the headline  'South London and Negro Emancipation': 'On Tuesday evening [3 February 1863]  a public meeting of the inhabitants of South London was held at Taylor's Depository, near the Elephant and Castle, for the purpose of expressing sympathy with the cause of negro emancipation in the United States. The working classes, whom the bills specially invited to attend, mustered in such large numbers that it was found necessary to hold another meeting outside'.

The meeting was chaired by a Mr W J Haynes and the Rev. Mr Barker moved the resolution 'That this meeting heartily unites in the general joy and thanksgiving which have been called forth by the proclamation issued by the President of the United States on the 1st of January 1863 declaring "then, thenceforward and forever free" more than three million slaves' and that this decree 'entitles Mr Lincoln to the sympathy and the moral support of the friends of freedom throughout the world'.

Mr G. Thompson told the meeting that 'The rebellion, which now convulsed America, was simply and exclusively a slaveholders' rebellion... all the officers of the rebel army were slaveholders, and it was for their profit that this rebellion had taken place'. The Rev. J. H. Ryland 'created a great sensation by narrating several harrowing tales of cruelty perpetrated by Southern planters on their slaves'.

Taylor's Depository was next to the Metropolitan Tabernacle on corner of St George's Road
(site today of the London College of Communication)

Taylor's Depository was a removal company and warehouse, but the building seemingly also included a lecture hall: 'In consequence of the number of people outside being fully equal to the number which had got crammed into the spacious Lecture Hall of the building, and as this immense multitude seemed determined not to separate until they heard something in respect of the question which had called them together, means were adopted to convert a portion of the lower area into a place of meeting; but, as the  space so appropriated could only contain about half the number anxious to gain admission, the other half had to listen as best they could to what was said in the open air outside the buildng'. People 'stood patiently in the open air for over two hours and a half'.

The outdoor meeting was presided over by Mr Sarrell who gave an eyewitness account of slavery in the Southern States based on his travels there. He was a vesrtyman from St George's, the church in Borough High Street.

Copies of the resolution were forwarded to Lincoln's office via the American minister (ambassador), along with similar resolutions from other meetings - the letter to Washington is included in published diplomatic correspondence.  Earlier, on 12th December 1862,  'a crowded meeting assembled at the Lambeth Baths, Westminster Road, to express sympathy with the anti-slavery party in America, the chair being occupied by the Rev. Newman Hall. The meeting was addressed by the Chairman, Mr Murphy, Mr Evans, Mr George Thompson, Mr Law, Mr Parkes, the Rev J H Rylance (who attended as a deputation from the Emancipation Society), Mr Huntingdon, Mr Maxwell, the Rev W Hawkins, Mr F W Chesson, and William Andrew Jackson, late Jefferson Davis' coachman. Resolutions in favour of the Federal Government were unanimously adopted' (Anti-Slavery Reporter, 1st January 1863). Another 'crowded meeting' was held at the same venue on the 19th of February  1863 (Anti-Slavery Reporter, March 6 1863).

The William A. Jackson referred to above had worked as a slave in the household of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America. After escaping and fleeing to the north he was able to provide detailed information to the Union on Confederate plan, having often been present while Davis and officials were talking.

I assume the Rev J H Rylance at the Lambeth meeting was the same person as Rev J H Ryland at the Southwark meeting. Rylance was at one time the vicar of St Paul's Church in Westminster Bridge Road.

(thanks to John Levin/Anterotesis for spotting the South London Chronicle article)

History Corner: John Evelyn of Deptford

John Evelyn (1620-1706) has cropped up a few times for me in the last week. The seventeenth century diarist, writer, gardener and government official is remembered in the names of the local Evelyn Street and Lewisham's Evelyn Ward, among other places.

Portrait of Evelyn by Robert Walker

Last Saturday I gave a history tour of the Deptford riverfront to New Cross Commoners, ending up with a picnic on the beach. We looked at the Convoys Wharf site, and I mentioned that part of it covered the site of Sayes Court - Evelyn's home from 1652-1690.

While preparing for the walk, I had been reading a lot of Peter Linebaugh. The historian's various works provide a good context for understanding Detpford history. 'The London Hanged' in particular includes lots of information about the working practices on the Royal Dockyard in the 18th century; 'The Many Headed Hydra' deals with maritime radicalism and the circulation of sailors, pirates and slaves across the Atlantic; and 'The Magna Carta Manifesto' deals with commons and enclosure through the lens of the Forest Charter sections of the Magna Carta which sought to safeguard the common rights of access to woodland  from Royal encroachment.

In the latter, Linebaugh writes of Evelyn as an apologist for enclosure, seeking to put the knowledge of trees at the service of empire:

'English forests were cut down at such a rate that toward the end of the century John Evelyn despaired of the national security, inasmuch as the navy provided the island’s “wooden walls.” The expansion of the British empire was by means of wood products and it was to the end of acquiring wood products. Restoration diarist and gentleman environmentalist John Evelyn (1620–1706) inherited a fortune that his grandfather had accumulated under James I and Charles I through his royal monopoly on saltpeter, essential ingredient (with sulfur and charcoal) to gunpowder. The “saltpeter man” forcibly ransacked stables, barns, dovecots, pigeon houses in search of potassium nitrate. The grandson’s project was to make an inventory of English trees in terms of their use values, and to convey this knowledge from commoners to commercial, scientific, and military markets. Not once does Evelyn mention the Forest Charter. Enclosed woods thrive better than unfenced forest. He wrote disdainfully of “satisfying a few clamorous, and rude Commoners.” He could not escape a millennium of custom, but he could bury it within Latin and Greek obscurantism. He concluded by quoting a Latin proverb of Erasmus, who was paraphrasing the Greek poet Theocritus, Praesente Quercu ligna quivis colligit, “In the presence of an oak every- one collects firewood.” Referring to An Act for the Punishment of Unlawful Cutting or Stealing or Spoiling of Wood (15 Charles II c.2), he coolly noted that ancient law punished the “beheading” of a tree by the forfeiture of a hand'.

Others have seen Evelyn more positively as a proto-environmentalist, writing against London pollution and for the preservation of trees. One strand of the campaign against current development plans for the Convoys Wharf site is the call to acknowledge or even recreate Evelyn's historic garden there (see Sayes Court - London's Lost Garden for lots of interesting historical material).

Evelyn's Cabinet

As reported in the Guardian at the weekend (18 May), a cabinet of Evelyn's features (along with the Horniman Museum's walrus) in a new exhibition in Margate. Curator Brian Dillon writes

Consider this curious item of furniture, which belongs to the Geffrye Museum in London and appears at Turner Contemporary, Margate, as part of Curiosity: Art and the Pleasures of Knowing. The object in question, at once austere and elaborate, is a cabinet of intricately carved ebony that stands on eight slender legs and opens to reveal a prismatic array of interior drawers and doors, rendered in fruitwood and ivory. The thing is said to have been made by the renowned Dutch craftsman Pierre Golle, though we cannot be sure. What's certain is that it was bought in Paris in 1652 by Mary Evelyn: wife of the polymath John Evelyn, who used it to store prints and small items. The empty cabinet is a reminder of the capaciousness of Evelyn's intellect and imagination: by the time he died in 1706, he had completed not only half a million pages of his celebrated diary, but treatises on medicine, mathematics, air pollution and the cultivation of trees. He had even written a discourse on salads'.

Evelyn and Slavery


It can't be denied though that Evelyn had a role in the administration of slavery. A royalist during the Civil War, he was later appointed by the King as an official to the Council of Foreign Plantations in a period when plantations were expanding in America and the Caribbean on the backs of slave labour. Even in this period, there were controversies about this in the face of slave demands for freedom. In his diaries Evelyn mentions the arguments about whether slaves should be allowed to be baptised as Christians - since some argued that as Christians they should no longer be treated as slaves: 'I may not forget a resolution which his Majesty made, and had a little before entered upon it at the Council Board at Windsor or Whitehall, that the negroes in the plantations should all be baptized, exceedingly declaiming against that impiety of their masters prohibiting it, out of a mistaken opinion that they would be ipso facto free; but his Majesty persists in his resolution to have them christened'. Evelyn also mentions the attempted slave revolt in Barbados in 1692: 'there was a conspiracy among the negroes in Barbadoes to murder all heir masters, discovered by overhearing a discourse of two of the slaves, and so preventing the execution of the design' - alleged conspirators were hanged, burned alive and castrated by the authorities.

Brockley Grove Street Art

This mural is outside Crofton Park Baptist Church in Brockley Grove SE4. I am guessing that it was painted as part of the commemorations for the 200th anniversary of the Slave Trade Act in 2007, as it is themed around slavery.

The mural was presumably commissioned by the Church, though it appears to criticise the hypocrisy of those Christians involved in the slave trade. The central figure says 'vote for Christian values' while behind his back a procession of slaves are led ashore from a ship (or is he supposed to be a William Wilberforce character urging the abolition of slavery in line with 'Christian values'?). The final panel says 'Slavery still exists in many forms', showing a child soldier, a prostitute, a sweatshop and a DVD seller.

Republican Borough of Greenwich

At a meeting at Woolwich Town Hall last month, Greenwich councillors formally agreed to change the name of the London Borough of Greenwich to the Royal Borough of Greenwich from 3 January 2012. The local museums (National Maritime Museum, the Queens House and the Royal Observatory) are to be rebranded as the Royal Museums, Greenwich, and the Queen herself will be visiting next year to re-open the restored Cutty Sark.

Thanks to Darryl at 453 you can listen to the speech made by Greenwich Council leader Chris Roberts proposing the motion, in which he outlines the 'great Royal Heritage' of Greenwich and its 'history... defined by royal presence and patronage'. It is true that there is a deep historical connection between Greenwich and royalty, though this is somewhat overstated. The royal palace at Greenwich was a key location for the Tudors (Henry VIII etc.), but was only built in the 15th century when the royal park was enclosed (or stolen from the commons if you prefer). Less than 200 year later its time as a royal residence came to an end with the execution of King Charles I during the English Civil War, when a significant proportion of the population successfully fought against the absolute power of the monarchy. The royal palace was used a biscuit factory for a while, then pulled down after it fell into decay.

Of course there have been 'Royal' connections since such as the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich and the Royal Naval College in Greenwich itself, but their names simply reflect the convention of naming government institutions as 'royal' rather than any actual royal presence.

Republican Greenwich

It is equally arguable that Greenwich should be renamed as the Republican Borough of Greenwich. Let us recall the figure of 'Freeborn' John Lilburne, a prominent figure in the anti-Royalist camp in the Civil War and later jailed as a Leveller. He claimed to have been born in the Royal palace at Greenwich, where his father Richard was a courtier (though he grew up in the North East). What is not in doubt is that he died at Eltham in 1657.

Let us remember too the thousands who gathered on Blackheath and fought and died against the tyranny of Kings - the Peasants Revolt of 1381, Jack Cade's rebellion in 1450 and the Cornish rising of 1497, which ended with hundreds being slaughtered by King Henry VII's forces at Deptford Bridge.

Or John De Morgan, the Republican and radical who was jailed for his part in the campaign againt the enclosure of Plumstead Common in the 1870s - when workers from the Arsenal and others rioted against plans to extend the parade ground of the Woolwich barracks.

Royalty and Empire
In his speech, Chris Roberts referred to 'the great navigators, soldiers and sailors who... fought for the Empire' without the slightest acknowledgement that this history was not always so glowing. For the ancestors of many of the people living in Greenwich today, the experience of this royal/colonial adventure was conquest, plunder and slavery. And yes, South East London was deeply implicated in this, with slavers living in Blackheath, and slave ships heading out from Deptford.

To uncritically celebrate Greenwich's royal/colonial connections is to the deny the crimes and the complexity of the past, and also has implications for the present. It is no coincidence that the fiercest guardians of this royal pageant version of history are also extremely reactionary about present events. Take the royalist historian David Starkey (no please, take him). He is curating an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich next year on 'Royal River: Power, Pageantry and the Thames'. His response to the recent riots? A rant on Newsnight that Enoch Powell was 'absolutely right' and that the problem is that 'the whites have become black.' I hope Greenwich Council won't be welcoming this racist to the borough in future.

Seriously though there is something very sad about an acceptance of Greenwich's status as a Royal theme park, resting on some imagined feudal heritage rather than looking to the future. Greenwich needs a new story as a place where history is being made now rather than simply conserved - maybe the 'Tinie Tempah Borough of Greenwich'?!