Bibliograph

Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African, To Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs of his Life, Ignatius Sancho, Edited by Frances Crewe, Preface by Joseph Jekyll, Volume 2

Type

Label

Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African, To Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs of his Life, Ignatius Sancho, Edited by Frances Crewe, Preface by Joseph Jekyll, Volume 2

Language

eng

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African

Medium

electronic resource

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Oclc number

1097151800

Responsibility statement

Ignatius Sancho, Edited by Frances Crewe, Preface by Joseph Jekyll

Series statement

Cambridge library collection. Slavery and abolitionCambridge Social Sciences eBooks

Sub title

To Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs of his Life

Summary

Born a slave, Ignatius Sancho (c.1729–80) became one of the most influential free Africans of his century. Largely self-taught, he was the first black Briton known to have voted in parliamentary elections and to be given an obituary in the British press. He corresponded with many notable figures, including the author Laurence Sterne, whom he urged to write against slavery in the West Indies. The politician Joseph Jekyll (1754–1837) commended Sancho's 'epistolary talent' in a brief biography, praising his 'wild patriotism' and 'universal philanthropy'. This two-volume collection of Sancho's letters was published in 1782 by the hostess Frances Crewe (1748–1818), who upheld Sancho as proof, in an age of dehumanising slavery, that Africans possessed as much natural intelligence as Europeans. Volume 2 contains letters for the period 1778–80. Sancho's last letters, betraying his acute suffering from gout, reveal the same warmth of affection and zeal for justice which characterised his life.--, Provided by publisher

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