Charles Ignatius Sancho
Sancho was a writer, composer, shopkeeper and abolitionist. He was sold into slavery as a child but managed to educate himself through the assistance of the Montagu family. He was known for his strong support for the abolitionist movement and his letters, for which he is famous, portrayed his passion for the movement. He was the first person of African descent to vote in Britain because he legally qualified as a male property owner.
1729
1780
He is a British citizen but was born on a slave ship in Atlantic enroute from Guinea to the Spanish West Indies
Black African
In 1766 Sancho wrote to the novelist Laurence Sterne urging him to use his pen to lobby for the abolition of the slave trade. His letters became an integral part of 18th century abolitionist literature
He voted in the 1774 and 1780 election, and he was the first person of African descent to vote in a general election
In 1782 two years after his death The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African, was published. It is one of the earliest accounts of African slavery written in English from a first hand experience
Sancho was born on a slave ship in Atlantic enroute from Guinea to the Spanish West Indies. His parents died when he was very young and he was sold into slavery in 1730 to three sisters in Greenwich. During this period, he met John Montagu, the second Duke of Montagu, who encouraged his education. After 18 years in slavery he escaped to the Montagu’s household, and was able to convince them to hire him as a butler. He worked there for 20 years, serving Mary Montagu, the widow of John, until her death in 1751. He was then valet to George Montagu until 1773
Sancho was an activist for the abolitionist movement in Britain
He wrote to the novelist Laurence Sterne urging him to use his pen to lobby for the abolition of the slave trade
His letters became an integral part of 18th century abolitionist literature
Sancho was a successful music composer. He published four collections of compositions and a treatise entitled A Theory of Music
He also appeared on stage and was a figure in entertainment
He also wrote many letters which were published in contemporary newspapers under his fictional name, Africanus
He was the first person of African descent to vote in a British general election
He is also the first known person of African descent to have an obituary published in British newspapers
Sancho married Anne Osborne in 1758, and thy had seven children
After his work for the Montagu family ceased the couple opened a grocery store in Westminster in 1773
Brycchan Carey on Twitter and Amazon. Ignatius Sancho: African Composer and Man of Letters. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://brycchancarey.com/sancho/
British Library. (n.d.). Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://www.bl.uk/people/ignatius-sancho
King, Reyahn (1997). Ignatius Sancho: An African Man of Letters. London: National Portrait Gallery.
