From Slavery to Freedom

FREE online history talk on Wednesday, 3 December, at 6pm (GMT).

St Helena 1792-1840: Slavery to Freedom - The Enslaved Person's Experience

We are delighted to welcome author Colin Fox to our online history series with an exploration of St Helena's journey from reliance on enslaved labour to free labour, focusing on how enslaved people themselves experienced the almost 50-year process, and showing how it generated historical records that are vital for St Helenian family history researchers today.

The fascinating thing about St Helenian history is that for over 200 years the island had a pivotal role in world events, but it did things ever so slightly differently to the rest of the world. The story of the abolition of slavery on the island is no exception, as Colin's detailed research reveals. Things just happen differently on a remote island governed by a trading company and where everybody knows everybody else.

The abolition of slavery on St Helena is the prequel to the island's role as an under-resourced base for the anti-slavery patrols of the Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron between 1840 and 1867. Without the history of enslavement or the presence of the Liberated African Establishment, St Helena would have a very different history and St Helenians would be a very different people.

Colin's book A Bitter Draught: St Helena and the Abolition of Slavery (2017), is a comprehensive study that grew out of his own family history. His maternal grandmother’s great grandfather was Captain James Bennett of the East India Company's service who served in the garrison during Napoleon’s exile. In the course of researching and writing The Bennett Letters (2006), Colin discovered that James Bennett had owned eight slaves. This prompted the further research that resulted in A Bitter Draught, which was published by the Friends of St Helena. The Friends have a fabulous set of history resources on their website. If you're interested in St Helenian family history - or indeed any other type of history on St Helena - check them out!

Colin was the editor of the Friends' journal Wirebird for many years. He has also edited and published (with Edward Baldwin) A Precarious Livelihood, a report written in 1833 to document and propose changes to the administration of St Helena during its change of sovereignty from the East India Company to the Crown. 

The talk is free to attend. Join us online on Wednesday, 3 December, at 6pm (GMT). All welcome.