Ignatius was born on slave ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean, his mother died not long after in the Spanish colony of New Granada, while his father took his own life rather than live as a slave. His father’s owner bought the two-year-old Ignatius to England, where he gave him to three unmarried sisters in Greenwich.
Now he met John Montagu.
He was the 2nd Duke of Montagu and he met Ignatius, and he encouraged him to read, even lending him books from his personal library. Inevitably, the young boy ran away from the sisters to the Montagu’s where he became the Duchess of Montagu’s butler, at Montagu House, where he flourished by immersing himself in music, poetry, reading, and writing. It was during this time that Gainsborough painted the attached portrait. When the Duchess died, he was given £30 and a year’s salary.
He went on to valet George Montagu, the son-in-law of his earlier patron.
In 1774 he opened a shop.
Once more with the help of Montagu he opened a greengrocery shop at 19 Charles Street, Mayfair, there he sold tobacco, sugar and tea. As he was a financially independent, male householder living in Westminster, he became the first slave qualified to vote, which he did in the parliamentary elections of both 1774 and 1780.
Then he developed.
As shopkeeper Sancho was able to socialise, to correspond with his many friends, all who shared his enjoyment of literature, along with the shops many visitors. He wrote and published a “Theory of Music”, two plays and wrote regularly for newspapers, under his own name and under the pseudonym “Africanus”.
It is stories like this that
make History Fun and interesting!
10 questions to discuss:
- What is the name of the individual who encouraged Ignatius to read and lent him books from his personal library?
- In which English house did Ignatius serve as a butler under the Duchess of Montagu?
- Who painted the portrait of Ignatius during his time at Montagu House?
- What was the amount of money and salary given to Ignatius when the Duchess of Montagu died?
- Whose valet did Ignatius become after the Duchess of Montagu passed away?
- In what year did Ignatius open his greengrocery shop?
- What items did Ignatius sell in his greengrocery shop?
- What significant achievement did Ignatius accomplish as a financially independent male householder living in Westminster?
- What pseudonym did Ignatius use when writing for newspapers?
- Apart from his plays and “Theory of Music,” what other significant literary works did Ignatius write and publish?
More about Ignatius:
https://brycchancarey.com/sancho/
https://www.bl.uk/people/ignatius-sancho
https://www.royalparks.org.uk/whats-on/blog/remembering-ignatius-sancho
© Tony Dalton