Enslaved Africans and their descendants in Scotland
Mary Augier’s grandchildren shown in a painting held by Aberdeen Art Gallery. The painting, perhaps deliberately, shows nothing of their African ancestry. © Aberdeen City Council (Archives, Gallery & Museum Collection)
There were probably hundreds of people of African descent living in 18th century Scotland.
They are recorded as being enslaved people, servants, or tradespeople, and were mostly men and young boys. Some would have been taken by their enslavers from the Caribbean as personal servants, while others were trafficked to Scotland to be household servants. They would not have been free to decide whether to migrate to Scotland or to stay in the Caribbean near their families.
Newspaper adverts record attempts to recapture enslaved people who had tried to escape. In 1778, in the case of Joseph Knight who had fled his enslavement in Perthshire, the Court of Session declared slavery illegal in Scotland.
Some enslaved people came to Scotland after being freed in the colonies. The children of a woman named Bella and her enslaver, John Ross of Arnage, were freed when Ross died. The children were sent to school in Edinburgh and to live with Ross’s father, permanently separated from their mother who was sold. In Jamaica some people, like Susanna and Mary Augier, appealed to the colonial legislature to be given the privileges of whiteness. Their descendants would settle in Scotland.
Grant of rights and privileges to Susanna Augier
In the early 1700s, a Black woman in Jamaica whose name is now unknown had five daughters. Their father was John Augier, who had enslaved and almost certainly raped her. The rape of enslaved women at this time was not considered a criminal offence. When John Augier died, his daughters Susanna, Mary, Jenny, Frances, and Jane were freed from slavery. In 1741 Susanna persuaded the Jamaican legislature to give her and her children most of the rights of a White person. This included the right to trial by jury and to inherit property.
Click here to read a transcript of the document.
- At The Council Chamber Whitehall
- the 21st Day of May 1747
- Present
- Their Excellencies the Lords Justices
- Arch Bishop of Canterbury
- Duke of Montague
- Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer
- Lord Chamberlain
- Duke of Newcastle…
- Whereas the Governor & Commander in Chief of his majesty’s Island of Jamaica with the Council and Assembly of the said Island did on the 19th of July 1738 pass an Act which hath been transmitted with words following vizt.
- An Act to entitle Susanna Augier a Mullato woman of the parish of Kingston and Mary Augier and Frances Augier two of the children of the said Susanna Augier to the same Rights and Privileges with English subjects born of white parents.
- Whereas the said Susanna Augier hath caused her said two daughters Mary and Frances Augier to be educated and instructed in the principles of the Church of England by laws established and acquired a very considerable fortune and estates and is possessed of several slaves but the said Susanna by reason of her being a mulatto and the said Mary and Frances and their fortunes by reason of their being born of the said Susanna a mulatto woman maybe subject and liable in some measure to the Rules of government and to the same pains and penalties which other free negroes and mulattos are.
- Wherefore We his majesty’s most dutiful loyal subjects the Assembly of Jamaica humbly beseech your most excellent Majesty that it may be enacted And be it Enacted by the governor council and assembly of this your majesty’s Island and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same that the said Susanna Augier Mary Augier and Frances Augier and all their several and respective children and their issue to be hereafter born in this island and begotten by white men shall from henceforth be deemed and taken to be forward natural born subjects of this island and from henceforth shall be tryed for all crimes, misdemeanours, & offences which they any or either of them shall hereafter be charged with in the same manner as if they and every of them were free and natural born subjects of the Crown of Great Britain and were descended of and from white ancestors and in no other manner whatsoever and they and every of them shall from henceforth be allowed as legal evidence in all tryals and causes civil and criminal and shall be entitled to have and enjoy all other rights, privileges, immunitys, and advantages whatsoever as if they and every of them were born of and descended from white ancestors any law, custom & usage to the contrary notwithstanding.
- Passed the Council 29 June 1738 I consent 19th July 1738 Edward Trelawny
![This page of the document has the text of the manumission certificate: "I the said John Ross have manumitted, enfranchised and set at liberty the the mulatto child of the said Bella named Sophia aged about nine years". The text is signed by witnesses and there is a small wax seal on the page.](https://exhibitions.abdn.ac.uk/university-collections/files/fullsize/da1069204e3e5d67be22ca1cb95e4623.jpg "This page of the document has the text of the manumission certificate: "I the said John Ross have manumitted, enfranchised and set at liberty the the mulatto child of the said Bella named Sophia aged about nine years". The text is signed by witnesses and there is a small wax seal on the page.")
Certificate of freedom from slavery for a child called Sophia
John Ross of Arnage in Aberdeenshire was an estate manager in 18th century Florida. Among the people he held in slavery was a woman called Bella. Ross admitted in letters to his family that he had bought Bella because he had ‘got some children from her’, including a daughter, Sophia. In Ross’s will he asked that ‘Bella & her three children be taken care of’, but days before his death he committed a final act of tyranny, changing his will so that Bella was sold.
Click here to read a transcript of the document.
- East Florida
- By His Excellency Patrick Tonyn Es
- Captain General and Governor in Chief of His Majesty’s Province of East Florida
- Chancellor and Vice Admiral of the same
- To all to whom these presents shall come Greeting Know Ye that James Hume Esq. before whom the affidavit to the Deed of Manumission hereto annexed were made and taken was then and now is Chief Justice of the province aforesaid. And therefore all due faith and credit is and ought to be had an given to such his attestation.
- In testimony whereof I have hereto Set my hand and caused the Great Seal of His Majesty’s said province to be put and affixed. Dated at St. Augustine the tenth day of January in the year of our Lord 1782 and in the twenty second year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King George the Third
- By His Excellency’s Command
- David Yeats Secry.
- East Florida
- To all to whom these presents shall come, be seen or made known. I John Ross of the province aforesaid Esq. send Greeting. Know ye that for and in consideration of the faithful services of my negro woman slave named Bella, formerly the property of William Eliot of London Esq. deceased and for other good causes me thereunto moving. I the said John Ross have manumitted & & enfranchis’d and set at liberty the mulatto child of the said Bella named Sophia aged about nine years. And by these presents do manumit enfranchise and set at liberty, the said mulatto child named Sophia, and for myself my heirs. Executors and Administrators do hereby for ever renounce, release and quit claim to any Right Title, Interest or Property in the servitude of the said mulatto child named Sophia, or which any person or persons claiming or to claim by from or under me the said John Ross my Executors, Administrators or Assigns hereafter may demand or require in or to the same.
- In witness thereof I the said John Ross have hereunto set my Hand and Seal this Eighth day of January in the year of our lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty two
- John Ross
- Sealed and delivered in the presence of
- David Yeats
- Willm Watson
Advert about Bocus
Bocus escaped from Robert Shand in Forgue in Aberdeenshire. The1771 advert from the Aberdeen Journal is explicit about Bocus’s status, describing him as a ‘SLAVE BOY’ and claiming him as ‘Mr. Shand’s property’.
Click here to read a transcript of the document.
- ELOPED: FROM Mr. Robert Shand at Conland in Forgue Parish, upon the first day of this month, a SLAVE BOY named Bocus, of a Tawny Complexion, straight Black Hair, somewhat above five Feet high, and has a wriggle in walking, had on when he went off, a light blue short Coat, Waistcoat and Breeches of the same; whoever will secure the said Boy, and acquaint Mr. Shand of it, will be genteely rewarded, but any Person detected in entertaining and cherishing him on a design of staying in Service else where, will be prosecute for detaining Mr. Shand's property.
Advert about James
This 1782 advert from the Aberdeen Journal describes James who had been brought from Tobago as ‘a black boy belonging to the subscriber’. Unlike Bocus, James is not described as a ‘slave’, so these words may have been chosen carefully as slavery was illegal in Scotland by 1782.
Click here to read a transcript of the document.
- NOTICE: Is hereby given, that a black boy belonging to the subscriber. which he brought from Tobago as a servant, eloped from hence yesterday morning, after having stole some things of value, viz. a case of razors, two shirts, and a coat, and several other articles. There is a warrant issued out for apprehending him. Any person that will take him up and confine him, or send him to Joseph Simpson and Co. will be genteelly rewarded. His name is JAMES, about five feet high, had on when he left this, a blue coat and striped vest, and had with him another blue and white Orleans coat, which he stole. Aberdeen, 15th Sept. 1782. KENNETH NICOL.
