James Somerset

James Somerset ( – after 1772) was an African man living in Britain and the plaintiff in a pivotal court case that confirmed that slavery was illegal in England and Wales.

Biography

Somerset was born in West Africa around 1741. He was captured when he was about 8 years old and sold to European slave traders. On 10 March 1749 he was transported by British slave ship to the American Colony of Virginia, where Scottish merchant Charles Stewart bought Somerset on 1 August 1749. In London, Somerset was baptised on 10 February 1771 at the Church of St Andrew, Holborn, with Thomas Walkin, Elizabeth Cade and John Marlow acting as his godparents. Perhaps because baptism was often associated with manumission, Somerset refused to continue serving Stewart, and left on 1 October of that year.