Then, as now London was ruled by commerce, without a doubt but it was a matter of deep unease that the rights Englishmen had taken for granted for so long, namely that of habeas corpus (unlawful detention as in slavery, not arrest), could be ignored so very easily. At the turn of the 18C there was clear concern in the courts about the status of slaves arriving in England from the Colonies: slaves were chattels, having been bought and paid for, but they were also people so how could they be chattels?  I hate trotting out laws and dates, but to get to the heart of this situation it must be done.  The two most prominent and famous laws pertaining to the status of slavery in Britain are the Yorke-Talbot ruling of 1729, and the Somerset ruling of 1772. Yorke-Talbot ruled that slaves did not become free on English soiled (baptized or not), they remained the property of their owner, and could be compelled to go wherever their owner decided.  In 1772, the Somerset ruling changed everything.  William Sharp was a surgeon who in 1765 had treated Jonathan Strong, a slave beaten and abandoned in the street by David Lisle his master.  When Strong was recovered, Lisle had attempted to reclaim him as property.  William Sharp had engaged in a legal battle to free Strong, and lost.  Sharp became an advocate for the rights of slaves and in 1772, master-minded the test case of James Somersett.  

Somersett had arrived in England as the property of Charles Stewart, a Boston Customs official.  In England Somersett clearly made friends and was baptized into St Andrew's Holborn early in 1771, with three god-parents standing for him.  He left Stewart in October of that year so Stewart had him abducted and put on a ship for Jamaica.  Sharp immediately got involved and arranged for the case to come to court.  He also shouted about it from the rooftops in pamphlets that garnered public interest.  It is absolutely key that the presiding figure was Lord Mansfield, who's little mixed-race grand-niece Dido Elizabeth Belle lived with him at Kenwood House (more of her later).  He tried to get Stewart to sell Somersett to the god-parents, but neither side was having it, both determined to see the law decided once and for all.  Mansfield ruled that habeas corpus (unlawful detention, rather than arrest) applied to anyone in England, even if they originated elsewhere.  Slavery in England was officially at an end, legally.  He was well aware of the significance of his ruling, stating 'Fiat justitia ruat caelum', or 'Let justice be done, though the heavens fall'.

Leaving legal matters aside, The Gentleman's Magazine and The London Advertiser ('human interest' publications on a par with The Sun; their absolute reliability in reporting is doubtful, but the classifieds are useful) record many little details about London's Black community, and took a generally favourable view.  Blacks definitely came above Methodists, although what they might have thought of a Black Methodist doesn't bear thinking about.  Modern commentators are very keen to jump on advertisements for the sale of young Black men and women.

The London Advertiser, 1756

But wait! Laws and such advertisements seem to encourage blanket statements, but London is a mass of individual stories and examples.  This extract from the Gentleman's Magazine in 1768 recounts story of a man coming to England with an 'agreeable negro girl', and selling her (for obliged, read short of money):

He was obliged to sell his slave for thirty guineas with part of which he purchased a lottery ticket, (he) has since drawn a prize of £5,000. He has since re-purchased his slave, made her free, and settled on her an annuity for her life.

It is dangerous to make any generalizations about the Black Londoners of the 18C, and future posts will focus on the lives of individuals where extant information allows the gathering of informed conclusions.  In the meantime though, it is good to note that the Yorkshire Stingo pub in Marylebone was famous for its savagely strong beer and predominantly Black clientele, and life was not all drudgery:

'Among the sundry fashionable routs or clubs that are held in town that of the Blacks or negro servants is not the least.  On Wednesday night last no less than fifty seven of them, men and women, supped, drank and entertained themselves with dancing and music, consisting of violins, French Horns and other instruments, in a public house in Fleet Street.'

The London Chronicle, 1764

N.B. Black in the context of this blog means people of African origin.