Sara Forbes Bonetta

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Omoba
Sara Forbes Bonetta
Sara Forbes Bonetta photographed by Camille Silvy in 1862
Born
Aina (also Ina)[1]

1843
Oke Odan, Yorubaland
Died15 August 1880 (aged 36–37)
Funchal, Madeira Island, Portugal
Cause of deathTuberculosis
Resting placeFunchal, Madeira Island, Portugal
Other namesSarah Forbes Bonetta
Sally Forbes Bonetta
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1862)​
Children
RelativesJohn Randle (physician) (son-in-law)
Ameyo Adadevoh (great-great-granddaughter)

Sara Forbes Bonetta, otherwise known as Sally Forbes Bonetta, (born Aina or Ina; c. 1843 – 15 August 1880),

King Ghezo of Dahomey. She was given as a "gift" to Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the British Royal Navy and became a goddaughter of Queen Victoria. She married Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies, a wealthy Lagos
philanthropist.

Early life

Lithograph of Forbes Bonetta, after a drawing by Frederick E. Forbes, from his 1851 book Dahomey and the Dahomans; being the journals of two missions to the king of Dahomey, and residence at his capital, in the year 1849 and 1850

Originally named Aina (or Ina),

Egbado territory, capturing Egbado slaves in the process.[4]

In 1848, Oke-Odan was invaded and captured by the army of Dahomey. Aina's parents died during the attack and other residents were either killed or sold into the Atlantic slave trade. Aina ended up in the court of King Ghezo of Dahomey as a young child slave. Dahomey was a major West African power that immensely profited from the Atlantic slave trade. After the British abolition of slavery, King Ghezo fought against British attempts to curtail Dahomey's exportation of slaves. Biographer and historian of Africa Martin Meredith quotes King Ghezo telling the British, "The slave trade has been the ruling principle of my people. It is the source of their glory and wealth. Their songs celebrate their victories and the mother lulls the child to sleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to slavery."[6][7][8]

Captain Forbes at Dahomey

In July 1850, Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the

cowry shells, and a caboceers stool.[10]

King Ghezo made it clear that he would not stop the slave trade. He believed that palm oil had some profit but little power. Commander Forbes was frustrated and angry. The Dahomian holiday ceremonies continued concurrently with Commander Forbes's continuous discussions with King Ghezo. Forbes started to count the number of soldiers under King Ghezo. He felt that the Dahomian monarch was attempting to show his power and give the impression that his army was larger and more powerful.[11]

Commander Forbes then heard a scream and then looked to a group of Dahomans who were waving their guns and carrying people in little baskets. Forbes was informed by an interpreter that those he saw being taken in little baskets were going to be executed. The ceremony was called the “Ek-onee-noo-ah-toh” or "watering of the graves."[12] The people in the baskets were dressed in white garments, were to be slaughtered and their blood dripped on the graves of high ranking Dahomans. Some of the intended victims had been held in captivity for over two years for this tradition. They were being carried while their hands and feet were tied together. As the victims were dragged through the ranks, the Dahomans poked and jabbed them with knives and spears.[11]

Commander Forbes watched in horror as a man from the basket tipped over to a pit and the man viciously fell down. As he hit the ground, he was instantly attacked and his head cut off. Forbes tried but failed to make King Ghezo stop the ritual. Forbes then offered him money. The King eventually allowed him to bargain for some of the victims. However, King Gezo's interpreters clarified that the custom of watering the ancestors' graves was an ancient one and could not be discontinued without dishonouring the Dahomey people.[11]

He had never witnessed a ritual this vicious and violent. He was certain that this was the worst moment he had ever encountered in all the years fighting the slave trade. He then noticed the girl, Aina. She was so tiny, so still. As they carried her closer to the pit, the drums became more intense. Forbes was appalled. He found it hard to comprehend how a king could ritually murder a child. However, Gezo found it extremely easy to sacrifice the girl. It was explained that she was an Egbado, a Dahoman enemy. Her blood on the King's ancestors' tombs would be a tribute to them.[11]

Forbes panicked and assured King Ghezo that Queen Victoria wouldn't honor a king that would kill a child, so the king offered Aina to be a gift for Queen Victoria. Forbes estimated that Aina was enslaved by King Ghezo for two years. Although her actual ancestry is unknown,

high status background because of the tribal markings on her face and that she had not been sold to European slave traders.[10] Describing Aina in his journal, he wrote: "one of the captives of this dreadful slave-hunt was this interesting girl. It is usual to reserve the best born for the high behests of royalty and the immolation on the tombs of the deceased nobility…".[14]

Dahomey was notorious for mass executing its captives in spectacular human sacrifice rituals as part of the Annual Customs of Dahomey. Forbes was aware of Aina's potential deadly fate in Dahomey, and as he wrote in his journal, refusing Aina "would have been to have signed her death-warrant, which probably would have been carried into execution forthwith."[14][10] Captain Forbes accepted Aina on behalf of Queen Victoria and embarked on his journey back to Britain.[14]

Queen Victoria

Captain Forbes renamed her Sara Forbes Bonetta, after himself and his ship HMS Bonetta. Forbes initially intended to raise her himself. However, Sara was later taken to meet Queen Victoria and she told her majesty about her horrible life, that for a couple of years she was kept in a small cage next to other unfortunate prisoners who she watched from time to time be taken out and slaughtered in rituals of the King of Dahomey. Her jailers often taunted her with the truth that she was being saved for ceremonial purposes too, and when it suited him, King Gezo intended to sacrifice her as a gift to his royal ancestors' tomb.[11]

Queen Victoria was touched by her story and she requested that Sara have her photo taken after their visit, Sara was taken to the English-based studio of American photographer John J. Mayall. Sara was afraid of the photographer because she had no idea what he intended. When she noticed a portrait of a man with a sword hanging on the wall, her fear turned into panic. She yelled, "Cut head off!" as she quickly ran her hand down her narrow throat. "Cut head off!" Sara knew from her years in captivity that swords were meant for head cuts. It was necessary to reassure the trembling girl that the man brandishing the sword was not real and would not hurt her.[11]

Queen Victoria was impressed by the young princess's "exceptional intelligence", and had the girl, whom she called Sally,

Church Missionary Society (CMS) in January 1849 as an institution for young women and girls who were relatives of the boys in the Sierra Leone Grammar School founded in 1845 (at first named CMS Grammar School). In the school register, her name appears only as Sally Bonetta, pupil number 24, June 1851, who married Captain Davies in England in 1862 and was the ward of Queen Victoria. She returned to England in 1855, when she was 12. She was entrusted to the care of Rev. Frederick Scheon and his wife Elizabeth,[18] who lived at Palm Cottage, Canterbury Street Gillingham. The house survives.[19] In January 1862, she was invited to and attended the wedding of Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Alice.[20]

Marriage and children

A portrait of James Pinson Labulo Davies and Sara Forbes Bonetta, photographed in London in 1862 by Camille Silvy

She was later commanded by the Queen to marry Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies at

St Nicholas' Church in Brighton, East Sussex, in August 1862, after a period spent in the town preparing for the wedding. During her subsequent time in Brighton, she lived at 17 Clifton Hill in the Montpelier area.[21]

Captain Davies was a

Dr. John Randle, becoming the stepmother of his son, Nigerian businessman and socialite J. K. Randle.[24] Bonetta's second daughter Stella Davies and Herbert Macaulay, the grandson of Samuel Ajayi Crowther, had a daughter together: Sarah Abigail Idowu Macaulay Adadevoh, named after her maternal grandmother Sara and her paternal grandmother Abigail.[22] A descendant of Sara's through her line was the Ebola heroine Ameyo Adadevoh. Many of Sara's other descendants now live in either Britain or Sierra Leone; a separate branch, the Randle family of Lagos, remains prominent in contemporary Nigeria.[23][25][26]

Death and legacy

Sara Forbes Bonetta died of

Ijon in Western Lagos, where he had started a cocoa farm.[27] The inscription on the obelisk reads:[2]

IN MEMORY OF PRINCESS SARAH FORBES BONETTA

WIFE OF THE HON J.P.L. DAVIES WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE AT MADEIRA AUGUST 15TH 1880

AGED 37 YEARS

Her grave is number 206 in the British Cemetery of Funchal near the Anglican Holy Trinity Church, Rua Quebra Costas Funchal, Madeira.[28]

A plaque commemorating Forbes Bonetta was placed on Palm Cottage in 2016, as part of the television series Black and British: A Forgotten History.[29]

A newly commissioned portrait of Forbes Bonetta by artist Hannah Uzor went on display at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight in October 2020 as part of an effort by English Heritage to recognise black history in England.[30][31]

Forbes Bonetta was portrayed by Zaris-Angel Hator in the 2017 British

Victoria.[32]

Forbes Bonetta's life and story formed the basis for the novel Breaking the Maafa Chain by Anni Domingo, published by Jacaranda Books in 2021.

Forbes Bonetta’s life and story also form the basis of the novel, “The Other Princess : A Novel of Queen Victoria’s Goddaughter” by Denny S. Bryce, published by HarperCollins October 3, 2023.

Gallery

  • Sara Forbes Bonetta by Camille Silvy
    Sara Forbes Bonetta by Camille Silvy
  • The English Cemetery in Funchal, Madeira
    The English Cemetery in Funchal, Madeira
  • Sarah Forbes Bonetta's gravestone, Madeira
    Sarah Forbes Bonetta's gravestone, Madeira

See also

  • Black British elite
    , the class that Forbes Bonetta belonged to
  • Nigerian aristocracy
    , the class that Forbes Bonetta belonged to
  • Nigerian bourgeoisie
    , the class that Forbes Bonetta married into

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  2. ^
    ISBN 9789785205763
    .
  3. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  4. ^ a b Elebute (2013), pp. 41–42
  5. ^ Akinjogbin, I.A. (1967). Dahomey and Its Neighbors: 1708-1818. Cambridge University Press.
  6. ISBN 9781610396356
    .
  7. ^ "The Story of Africa| BBC World Service". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
  8. ISBN 978-1-4767-3745-4
    .
  9. ^ "Black and Asian History and Victorian Britain / Sarah Forbes Bonetta and Family". Royal Collection Trust. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  10. ^ a b c "Sarah Forbes Bonetta, Queen Victoria's African Protégée". English Heritage. Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  11. ^
    ISBN 978-0-590-48669-9
    .
  12. ^ Kujawinski, Bethany (23 October 2020). "Princess Omoba Aina (Sarah Forbes Bonetta) of Nigeria". editions.covecollective.org. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  13. ^ Picture World: Image, Aesthetics, and Victorian New Media, Rachel Teutolsky, Oxford University Press, 2020, p. 267
  14. ^ a b c Chiba, Akira. "Queen Victoria and the African Princess | MUSEYON BOOKS". Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  15. ^
    ISBN 9781851093557
    .
  16. ISBN 9781405139359
    .
  17. ISBN 9780853319306. Archived
    from the original on 23 April 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  18. ^ Black Presence website, Sara Forbes Bonetta
  19. ^ Jordan, Nicola (16 October 2016). "Queen Victoria adopted my great-great grandma". Kent Online. Archived from the original on 29 May 2018. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  20. ^ Higgen, Annie C. (1881). "Queen Victoria's African Protégée". Church Missionary Quarterly Token. Church Missionary Society. p. 6. Archived from the original on 19 September 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2020 – via Google Books.
  21. ISBN 978-0-9564664-0-2
    .
  22. ^ a b Elebute (2013), pp. 77–79
  23. ^ a b Braimah, Ayodale (5 June 2014). "Bonetta, Sarah Forbes (1843–1880)". BlackPast. Archived from the original on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  24. PMID 4618303. Archived
    from the original on 21 June 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
  25. ^ "The Nineteenth Century: 1862 - Sarah Forbes Bonetta - The African Princess in Brighton". Brighton and Hove Black History. Brighton and Hove Black History Project. Archived from the original on 8 May 2003.
  26. ^ "Sarah Forbes Bonetta (Sarah Davies) (1843-1880), Goddaughter of Queen Victoria:Image archive". London: National Portrait Gallery. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 30 September 2006.
  27. ^ Elebute (2013), pp. 111–119
  28. ^ Register of Burials, Church Archives, Holy Trinity Church, Funchal
  29. ^ "Plaque commemorating Sarah Forbes Bonetta who was under the protection of Queen Victoria - BBC". Google Arts & Culture. Archived from the original on 18 April 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  30. ^ "Sarah Forbes Bonetta: Portrait of Queen Victoria's goddaughter on show". BBC News. 7 October 2020. Archived from the original on 7 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  31. ^ Brown, Mark (6 October 2020). "New portrait of Queen Victoria's African goddaughter unveiled". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  32. ^ Gordon, Naomi (20 December 2017). "Victoria creator "challenging" perspectives of the era". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2020.

Further reading

The books state that she was the Acting Principal of CMS Female Institution in 1870, the school was founded in 1869, the first principal was Mrs Annie Roper wife of Reverend Roper of CMS Mission Ijaiye, Mrs Forbes Davies was succeeded by Rev & Mrs Henry Townsend

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sara_Forbes_Bonetta&oldid=1214316677"