A MISCELLANY OF HISTORY
A TEXTUAL WEAVING OF A CABINET OF CURIOSITIES
A TEXTUAL SAMPLER
Chapter Nine
A few parish register entries:
Nympsfield 1719 Daniel ‘a black stranger’ buried.
Nympsfield 1773 Francis London ‘a servant to the Rt. Hon. Lord Ducie – supposed to be 17 years of age, ‘a native of Africa’ was baptised.
Rodborough 1778 William Jubiter – ‘black’ was buried.
Stroud 1786 Adam John Parker, ‘Negro, 32, was buried. Parish funeral’.
Frocester 1790 ‘William Frocester, supposed to be 11 or 12 years old, born on the island of Barbados, now a servant of Edward Bigland Esq. residing in Jamaica, was baptised.’
Stroud 1801 William Eliis, ‘son of Qualquay Assedew, a Negro of Guinea, aged 12 years, was baptised.’
Bisley 1815 Testimonial from Richard Raikes, supporting the application of John Hart, Writing Master, to the post of master at Bisley Blue Coat School, ‘Unfortunately he is a Mulatto, a native of the West Indies.’
Minchinhampton 1826 Thomas Davies, ‘an infirm travelling Black’, was buried, 67 years old.
Walks from Stroud Railway Station from the Black Ark Media Group from the Gloucestershire Black History Map: The Abolition Arch
‘This Grade 2 Arch is Britain’s oldest antislavery memorial. Originally built as the entrance to Farmhill Park for Henry Wyatt, a clothier who bought the Stroud property the same year as the Abolition Act (having been a tenant since 1817). A supporter of the Stroud Anti-Slavery Society he pressurised MP, W.H. Hyett, to vote for abolition in Parliament. The Arch is a source of pride and for some a reminder of the £20m (equivalent) injection into the Stroud District economy from seven local ‘compensated’ slave owners.’
Walks from Stroud Railway Station from the Black Ark Media Group from the Gloucestershire Black History Map: Black Boy Clock
‘At the junction of Castle, Nelson and Middle Streets a 1774 “Jack Clock” sits within a specially designed niche on an old Girls School Building. This depiction of a small Black boy with a club may have been inspired by tobacco advertisements of the time. It was made by Stroud watchmaker John Miles 270+ years into the transatlantic slave trade. Some of the Stroud elite were connected to and profited from this trade. In April 2022 the Council recommended that the clock be removed.’