Remembering Lady Sarah Forbes Bonetta Davies
A couple of weeks ago, I came across an article on Sarah Forbes Bonetta Davies 'The African Princess'. The photographs were very regal and very English. I of course was very interested in learning more about this enigmatic character of African descent, who was wildly popular in Victorian England but virtually forgotten today.
Sarah Forbes Bonetta is believed to have been born in 1842 to a royal family in the old Egbado Yoruba country. It is claimed she said Ina was her name. She was an Egbado Omooba (Egbado princess) and was seized when her town was raided by the Dahomeians, where her parents and siblings were decapitated. She was kept by King Ghezo of Dahomey, who planned possibly to use her as a sacrificial offering, as opposed to being sold as a slave due to her royal blood. After persuasion from Captain Forbes, she was offered as a gift from the ‘King of Blacks to the Queen of Whites’, Queen Victoria, in good faith to end the slave trade from his Kingdom.
Sarah Forbes Bonetta by Octavious Oakely
Captain Forbes of the Royal Navy, who facilitated the transport, gave her the name Sarah Forbes, after himself and Bonetta, after his ship. She was presented to Queen Victoria and the Royal household who took charge of her and made arrangements for her future. This is an excerpt that shows her progress in England.
"Since her arrival in the country, she has made considerable progress in the study of the English language and manifests great musical talent and intelligence of no common order. Her hair is short, black, and curling, strongly indicative of her African birth; while her features are pleasing and handsome, and her manners and conduct most mild and affectionate to all about her."
In 1851, due to the unfamiliar weather and ill health, Sarah was sent to the Female Institution in Freetown, Sierra Leone, to study. When she was 12, the Queen commanded her to return to England where she was cared for by Mr & Mrs Schon at Chatam.
It was said the Queen was impressed with Sarah’s regal nature and academic prowess in her studies, especially in music, that she was given an allowance and accessibility to the queen. She was treated like the queen’s god daughter and was raised in the British middle class.
Sarah Forbes Bonetta Davies by Camille Silvy Queen Victoria, Ruler of the British Empire
In August 1862, after an initial rejection and sanctioned by the Queen, Sarah married James Pinston Labulo Davies, a wealthy Yoruba businessman living in Britain. After the initial refusal, Sarah was sent to live with 2 elderly ladies in Brighton; a place she described as a ‘desolate little pig sty’. They were married at St Nicholas Church in Brighton. Apparently, the wedding was a sight to behold; she had 16 bridesmaids, 10 carriages filled with ‘White ladies and African gentlemen, as well as, White gentlemen with African ladies’. Shortly after the wedding, the couple moved to Nigeria where her husband was a member of the Legislative Council from 1872 – 1874 (when the Lagos Colony was amalgamated with the Gold Coast).
Mr and Mrs Davies
Sarah gave birth to a girl who was named Victoria after permission was given by the queen. Victoria Davies, like her mother, was the god-daughter of the Queen. Equally impressed by the younger Davies’ intellect, the Queen instituted an allowance for her and she was known in the royal court. It is even alleged that on passing her music exams, Queen Victoria was so pleased that she proclaimed a one day holiday for all teachers and pupils. Victoria Davies was a regular visitor to the queen and the royal household throughout her lifetime.
Victoria Davies
Sarah had a cough that never seems to go away. In 1880, she went for treatment in Madeira where she died. She is buried in Funchal, Madeira. She was alleged to have been between 37 and 43.
Upon hearing of Sarah's death, the Queen wrote in her diary: " Saw poor Victoria Davies, my black godchild, who learnt this morning of the death of her dear mother".
I find the story of Lady Sarah Forbes Bonetta Davies very fascinating; it paints a very different picture of Victorian England for me. I always assumed racism and bigotry was the order of the day. Having read about the various characters in Sarah’s life and the ‘famous’ Brighton wedding, I’m curious to learn more about Africans and how they were perceived in England during the Victorian Era. However to me, there are undertones of sadness for Sarah. She was never free to make her own decisions. She was always ‘commanded’ or ‘sanctioned’, moved ‘here, there and everywhere’. I wonder how she might have felt. There is very little known regarding her true feelings on the issues relating to the various circumstances she found herself. In any case, it is very pleasing indeed to read about the Godchild of Queen Victoria, ruler of the British Empire, Lady Sarah Forbes Bonetta Davies.
Upon hearing of Sarah's death, the Queen wrote in her diary: " Saw poor Victoria Davies, my black godchild, who learnt this morning of the death of her dear mother".
I find the story of Lady Sarah Forbes Bonetta Davies very fascinating; it paints a very different picture of Victorian England for me. I always assumed racism and bigotry was the order of the day. Having read about the various characters in Sarah’s life and the ‘famous’ Brighton wedding, I’m curious to learn more about Africans and how they were perceived in England during the Victorian Era. However to me, there are undertones of sadness for Sarah. She was never free to make her own decisions. She was always ‘commanded’ or ‘sanctioned’, moved ‘here, there and everywhere’. I wonder how she might have felt. There is very little known regarding her true feelings on the issues relating to the various circumstances she found herself. In any case, it is very pleasing indeed to read about the Godchild of Queen Victoria, ruler of the British Empire, Lady Sarah Forbes Bonetta Davies.
This is culled from the journal of Captain
Forbes regarding Sarah;
I
have only to add a few particulars about my extraordinary present The African
child” in a former portion of these journal I have mentioned the Okeadon war;
one of the captives of this dreadful slave-hunt was this interesting girl.
It is usual to reserve the best born for the high behest of royalty and the immolation on the tombs of the diseased nobility. For one of these ends she had been detained at court for two years: proving, by her not having been sold to slave dealer that she was of a good family.
So extraordinary a present would have been at least burden, had I not the conviction that, in consideration of the nature of the service I had performed, the government would consider her as the property of the crown.
To refuse would have been to have signed her death warrant: which, probably, would have been carried into execution forthwith. Immediately on arriving…
Of her own history she was only a confused idea. Her parents were decapitated; her brother and sisters she knows not what their fate might have been.
For her age supposed to be eight years. She is a perfect genius; she now speaks English well, and has a great talent for music. She has won the affections, with but few exceptions, of all who have known her, she is far in advance of any white child of her age, in aptness of learning, and strength of mind and affection: and with her, been an excellent specimens of the Negro race.
It is usual to reserve the best born for the high behest of royalty and the immolation on the tombs of the diseased nobility. For one of these ends she had been detained at court for two years: proving, by her not having been sold to slave dealer that she was of a good family.
So extraordinary a present would have been at least burden, had I not the conviction that, in consideration of the nature of the service I had performed, the government would consider her as the property of the crown.
To refuse would have been to have signed her death warrant: which, probably, would have been carried into execution forthwith. Immediately on arriving…
Of her own history she was only a confused idea. Her parents were decapitated; her brother and sisters she knows not what their fate might have been.
For her age supposed to be eight years. She is a perfect genius; she now speaks English well, and has a great talent for music. She has won the affections, with but few exceptions, of all who have known her, she is far in advance of any white child of her age, in aptness of learning, and strength of mind and affection: and with her, been an excellent specimens of the Negro race.
Various portraits of Sarah are on display in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
A fascinating story, if with a sad ending. The photographs are remarkable: a very good example of a woman whose intelligence is obvious in the pictures. She seems to be looking not just at you, but into you.
ReplyDeleteMight I suggest you read about Bishop Samuel Crowther? He also came from that part of Africa to England, rescued from slave-traders, and after extensive education and consecration in the Anglican church went back as a missionary to the Yoruba, of whose language he wrote the first grammar.
She was never made a "Lady" by the British (a noble). That would have been a stepdown as she was already a Yoruba Princess (a royal).
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