ASSOCIATES



Gustavus Vassa was acquainted with a number of prominent individuals, and he probably knew others for whom there is no documentary evidence. He also referred to other individuals whom he knew, especially in London, about whom little if anything known beyond Vassa's reference. There were also several associations and affiliations that referred to groups, such as the Huntingdonians, the Black Poor, the Sons of Africa, and the London Corresponding Society. By highlighting the individuals Vassa knew or possibly knew, Vassa's world expands considerably, and the list increases exponentially with his book tours and the sale of subscriptions to his autobiography, ultimately generating hundreds of individuals who purchased at least one copy of his book. Vassa's associates are divided into seven categories: Family, Slavery, Abolition, Religion, Scientific, Military and Subscribers.

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Family

Family

Gustavus Vassa was born in 1745 in the Igbo region of the Kingdom of Benin, today southern Nigeria. He was the youngest son in a family of six sons and a daughter. He was stolen with his sister and sold into slavery at the age of 11. Not much is known about his Igbo family, aside from what is included in his memoir. In 1792, he married a white woman named Suzannah Cullen. The couple had two daughters, Anne Marie Vassa and Joanna Vassa. Anne Marie passed away shortly after Vassa’s death. Joanna went on to marry a congregationalist minister named Reverend Henry Bromley. The lives of his family members are detailed in this section.

Slavery

Slavery

Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped when he was about eleven or twelve and arrived in Barbados in mid 1754. During his experience as a slave before he was able to purchase his own freedom in 1767, he was associated with a number of individuals, three of whom were his owner, a Mr. Campbell in Virginia, Captain Michael Henry Pascal, and merchant Robert King. The section also includes his two closest friends during his enslavement, Richard Baker and John Annis, and King Gustavus Vasa I of Sweden, his namesake, and finally Ambrose Lace, a leading Liverpool slave trader.

Abolition

Abolition

Gustavus Vassa became a leading member of the abolitionist movement in the middle to late 1780s, publishing the first edition of his autobiography in the spring of 1789 as Parliament opened its hearings into the slave trade. This section identifies many of the individuals with whom Vassa was associated in the struggle to end the slave trade and to expose the barbarities of slavery.

Religion

Religion

Through his slave master, Michael Henry Pascal, Gustavus Vassa was introduced to the Guerin family, relatives of Pascal who were devoutly religious. The Guerin sisters taught Vassa how to read and write, and instructed him on the principles of Christianity. Under their guidance, Vassa was baptized in 1759. Six years later, in 1765, Vassa heard the famous Calvinist Methodist preacher, George Whitefield, preach in Savannah. Whitefield and the Countess of Huntingdon’s Calvinist orientation of Methodism had a profound influence on Vassa. Throughout his life, he was affiliated with many religious figures, such as the Quakers, who were one of the first organizations to take a collective stand against the institution of slavery.

Scientific

Scientific

In 1772, Gustavus Vassa was employed by Dr. Charles Irving to help him with the operation of a sea water distillation apparatus on two ships. This was the first of many scientific connections that Vassa developed over the years. He participated in an exploration of the Arctic alongside Dr. Irving and Constantine John Phipps. He was recruited to be part of a plantation scheme in the Mosquito Shore, which introduced him to Alexander Blair, an investor who was connected to distinguished chemist James Keir and the famed steam machine inventor, James Watt. As Vassa’s narrative gained popularity, his life story peaked the interest of the so-called “father of physical anthropology,” Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. The men were mutually acquainted with the President and founder of the Royal Society, Joseph Banks and met in person. These connections, among others, are detailed in this section.

Military

Military

Gustavus Vassa travelled extensively as a seaman. He fought in the Seven Years War, where he met war hero, General James Wolfe. When he eventually settled in London in the 1770s, he became deeply involved in the political sphere, landing him various government and military connections. In his fight against the institution of slavery, he wrote many letters to high ranking officials, some of which were presented in front of the House of Commons. He participated in a disastrous plantation scheme on the British-controlled Mosquito Shore, during which time he met the son of the Miskitu kings and soon to be King George II. He worked for a former government official of the short-lived Province of Senegambia, Matthias McNamara, and participated in a resettlement scheme for the black poor in the Sierra Leone peninsula. His connections with various military and government officials are listed here.

Matthias McNamara
Horatio Nelson
Edward Despard
James Wolfe
Robert Hodgson
King George I of Mosquito Shore
King George II of Mosquito Shore
King George III
William Pitt
Sir William Dolben
Thomas Wallace
Michael White
Thomas Steele
Mr. M’Intosh (William Macintosh)
Augustus Keppel
John Mondle
George Pitt
Captain Charles O’Hara
Subscribers

Subscribers

Like many other first-time authors in the 18 th century, Vassa followed a subscription-based model to secure funding for his autobiography, which he published himself. In this way, he was able to retain its copyright, a feat virtually unheard of for a black, formerly enslaved man during this period. To do so, he sold the book by subscription, convincing individuals to commit to purchasing the book prior to publication, for a discounted price. Vassa’s original list of subscribers to his first edition was 311,and by the 9th edition, it had increased to 894. This section provides a list of the subscribers for various editions of the narrative, which included many well-known abolitionists, religious figures, government officials, and others.

Thomas Wallace


Thomas Wallace was an Irish officer of the short-lived Province of Senegambia, Britain's first formal colony in Africa, established in 1765 and disbanded officially in 1783. The West African region stretched from the Senegal River in the north to the Gambia River in the south, hence the name "Senegambia." At the termination of the Seven Years War, the British consolidated its claims to coastal outposts in the region of modern Senegal and Gambia. The colonial status for the Province of Senegambia was modelled on British possessions in the Americas but never had a resident settler or merchant community large enough to implement the official mandate in West Africa. Senegambia was established with the goal of providing slaves for the Americas and industrial products, namely gum arabic, for Britain's textile industry. Thus those that immigrated to the Province were principally soldiers, occasional merchants, and criminals and rebellious sailors who had been exiled to the African coast.

In 1763, Wallace was one of 54 individuals who lived on James Island, the main British trading post on the Gambia River, home to three civilian officers, eight European soldiers, 30 enslaved persons and their dependents. The officers on James Island were known to be illicitly involved in the slave trade. Matthias McNamara, the Lieutenant-Governor and then Acting Governor of the Province of Senegambia, resided on the island with Wallace. As Acting Governor, McNamara was described as a brutal man who inflicted heinous punishments on his subordinates. He imprisoned his adversaries in a six by eight-foot cell called the "black hole" under the stairs at James Island, one of whom being Captain Joseph Wall of Gore Island, his senior military officer. Upon his release, Wall brought two actions against McNamara, one for false imprisonment and the other for embezzlement. In an effort to discredit Wall, McNamara enlisted Wallace to lie on his behalf. In 1777, McNamara was charged not only with embezzlement and false imprisonment, but also subornation of perjury and illegal trading with the French. Wallace was also accused of subornation of perjury. The situation worsened for the two men when the Chief Justice of Senegambia, Edward Morse, accused them of conspiring against him. In June of 1777, a jury in Africa found there to be sufficient cause for the charges and deferred the case to the Board of Trade in London. In March of 1778, the council found the accusations to be true and recommended to King George III that McNamara and Wallace be relieved of their duties.

Despite his embarrassing downfall, McNamara continued to live a life of splendor in London. It was during this time that he developed a relationship with Gustavus Vassa, who was working as a barber in Haymarket. By March 11, 1779, Vassa's letters show that he was working for McNamara as a servant in his home, for how long is not known. McNamara took note of Vassa's religious devotion and recommended that he go to Africa as a missionary. Vassa was initially skeptical, having had a disastrous experience as part of Dr. Charles Irving's failed Mosquito Shore plantation scheme; however, he eventually came around. While it is unknown whether Wallace and Gustavus Vassa ever met, they were aware of one another through their mutual connection to McNamara. Both McNamara and Wallace submitted letters of recommendation on Vassa's behalf to the Bishop of London, Robert Lowth. Unfortunately the Bishop rejected Vassa's application. This was likely due to him being aware of McNamara's and Wallace's poor reputations and probably reluctance to send another missionary to Africa, especially during the war. After this point, Wallace's whereabouts are unknown.

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REFERENCES

Carretta, Vincent. Equiano, the African: Biography of a Self-made Man (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2005).

Gray, J. M. A History of the Gambia (New York, NY: Barnes & Noble, 1966).

Lovejoy, Paul E. "The Province of Senegambia − An Early British Colony in Africa (1765-83)," in Lovejoy and Suzanne Schwarz, eds., Slavery, Abolition and Colonialism in Sierra Leone (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2014), 109-26.



This webpage was last updated on 2020-06-12 by Carly Downs

Thomas

Map of Fort James and James Island by Justly Watson (1755), Wikimedia Commons.