Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

A Global History of Anti-slavery Politics in the Nineteenth Century“A Most Promising Field for Future Usefulness”: The Church Missionary Society and the Liberated Africans of Sierra Leone

A Global History of Anti-slavery Politics in the Nineteenth Century: “A Most Promising Field for... [With the coming into force of the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, Sierra Leone1 assumed a substantially different role within the British Empire. No longer “simply a small struggling collection of unwanted black vagrants and intractable, independent-minded Nova Scotians and Maroons”, the settlement once known as Granville Sharp’s “Province of Freedom” became in 1808 a Crown colony, the base of operations for the Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron, the seat of the Vice-Admiralty Court adjudicating captures (and, later, the Courts of Mixed Commission), and the depository for Africans liberated from the holds of slave ships.2 The change in status caught the colony, and equally the humanitarians who had championed the Bill for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, quite unprepared for the consequences. Even before the first Crown colony governor arrived to take over in July 1808, the first two slave ship prize captures had arrived in the harbour, with a combined human cargo of 167 enslaved Africans.3 These “recaptives” became the responsibility of the collector of customs pending their adjudication, liberation, and resettlement. Another 78 followed in the next seizure, followed by 230 the following year.4 In 1811 alone, arrivals numbered 1,991; by July 1814, the total number landed since 1808 was estimated at 5,925.5 All indications suggested that these numbers would continue to rise.6] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A Global History of Anti-slavery Politics in the Nineteenth Century“A Most Promising Field for Future Usefulness”: The Church Missionary Society and the Liberated Africans of Sierra Leone

Editors: Mulligan, William; Bric, Maurice
Ryan, Maeve
Springer Journals — Oct 24, 2015
Download PDF
21 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/a-global-history-of-anti-slavery-politics-in-the-nineteenth-century-a-LvOHJU10QE
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan UK
Copyright
© Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited 2013
ISBN
978-1-349-44116-7
Pages
37 –58
DOI
10.1057/9781137032607_3
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[With the coming into force of the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, Sierra Leone1 assumed a substantially different role within the British Empire. No longer “simply a small struggling collection of unwanted black vagrants and intractable, independent-minded Nova Scotians and Maroons”, the settlement once known as Granville Sharp’s “Province of Freedom” became in 1808 a Crown colony, the base of operations for the Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron, the seat of the Vice-Admiralty Court adjudicating captures (and, later, the Courts of Mixed Commission), and the depository for Africans liberated from the holds of slave ships.2 The change in status caught the colony, and equally the humanitarians who had championed the Bill for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, quite unprepared for the consequences. Even before the first Crown colony governor arrived to take over in July 1808, the first two slave ship prize captures had arrived in the harbour, with a combined human cargo of 167 enslaved Africans.3 These “recaptives” became the responsibility of the collector of customs pending their adjudication, liberation, and resettlement. Another 78 followed in the next seizure, followed by 230 the following year.4 In 1811 alone, arrivals numbered 1,991; by July 1814, the total number landed since 1808 was estimated at 5,925.5 All indications suggested that these numbers would continue to rise.6]

Published: Oct 24, 2015

Keywords: Mission Station; British Government; Slave Trade; Future Usefulness; Colonial Government

There are no references for this article.