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Britain's Black Past

Britain's Black Past: Ignatius Sancho

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The Invisible Presence

04/10/2016

Ignatius Sancho

BBC Radio 4 - Britain's Black Past, Ignatius Sancho

Gretchen Gerzina explores the life of a butler who rose to the top of 18th century society

Gretchen Gerzina explores the life of a butler who rose to the top of 18th-century society and became famous for his letters and his musical compositions.

Professor Gretchen Gerzina explores a largely unknown past - the lives of black people who settled in Britain in the 18th and early 19th centuries. 

She reveals a startling paradox - although Britain was at the heart of a thriving slave trade, it was still possible for many black people to live here in freedom and prosperity. A few even made it to the very top of fashionable society. 

But there were others who were brought over by slave-owners from the West Indies and who were never free, despite living for the rest of their lives in Glasgow or Bristol or London. Some took the law into their own hands, and managed to free themselves, others went further and advocated violent revolution. Free or unfree, they all saw Britain as a place of opportunity that could become a home. 

Over two weeks, Professor Gerzina travels across Britain and talks to historians, unearthing new evidence about Britain's black past. From a country estate in Chepstow, via the docks of Liverpool, to grand houses in London and Bristol, she evokes the daily texture of black people's lives, using first-hand accounts from letters and autobiographies.

In the second programme in the series, Professor Gerzina explores the life of the butler Ignatius Sancho, who rose to the top of fashionable society. 

With historians Professor Brycchan Carey and novelist Steve Martin.

The music in this series is by the 18th century composer Ignatius Sancho, and performed by the Afro-American Chamber Music Society Orchestra. 

Readers: Paterson Joseph, Jonathan Keeble
Producer: Elizabeth Burke
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4.

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Gretchen Gerzina explores the lives of black people in Britain during a time of slavery.

Professor Gretchen Gerzina explores a largely unknown past, the lives of black people who settled in Britain in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

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