Name Scipio Africanus | Role Slave | |
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Died December 21, 1720, Henbury, Bristol, United Kingdom | ||
Scipio Africanus (1702 – 21 December 1720) was a slave born to unknown parents from West Africa. He was named after Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major, the third century BCE Roman general, famous for defeating the Carthaginian military leader Hannibal.
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Life
Very little is known of his life. He was the servant of Charles William Howard, 7th Earl of Suffolk, who in 1715 married Arabella Morse and lived in the "Great House" in Henbury, Bristol. It is not known how he was acquired, but he died there aged, according to his headstone, eighteen. His master and mistress would die two years later.
Grave
He is remembered because of the elaborate grave, consisting of painted headstone and footstone, in the churchyard of St Mary's in Henbury, which is a grade II listed building. Both stones feature black cherubs and the footstone bears the unusual epitaph:
I who was Born a PAGAN and a SLAVENow sweetly sleep a CHRISTIAN in my GraveWhat tho' my hue was dark my SAVIOR'S sightShall Change this darkness into radiant LightSuch grace to me my Lord on earth has givenTo recommend me to my Lord in heavenWhose glorious second coming here I waitWith saints and Angels him to celebrateIt is thought that 10,000 black slaves and servants were in Britain in the early 18th century, but this is one of the very few memorials to them. Curiously, there is no record of his burial in the church registers.