Jonathan Strong

Granville Sharp the Abolitionist Rescuing a Slave from the Hands of His Master, oil on canvas, by James Hayllar, 1864. Depicts Granville Sharp defending the slave, Jonathan Strong

Jonathan Strong (–1773) was an enslaved person and subject of one of the earliest legal cases relating to slavery in Britain and the British abolitionist movement.

It is not known where Strong was born, but he was brought to Britain from the British colony of Barbados by a Barbadian lawyer and slave trader, David Lisle. On 22 July 1765, when he was fifteen or sixteen years old, Strong was baptised at St Leonard's, Shoreditch. Many enslaved black people at this time thought that they became free upon baptism, and it is possibly this fact that prompted his enslaver to severely assault him and leave Strong on the street. at a building near William's office. Strong worked there until Lisle saw Strong serving as a footman on the pharmacist's coach. Viewing Strong as his property, Lisle sold him to a Jamaican slave trader, James Kerr, and had him kidnapped and placed in a city jail. Strong got a message to Granville Sharp, who immediately took the legality of his detention up with the Lord Mayor of London

Lisle challenged Granville Sharp to a duel, but he declined, telling Lisle that he could expect satisfaction from the law.

Strong remained free until he died in London on 19 April 1773, aged 25. His young age at death may have been a result of the beatings given by Lisle.