The life of James Pinson Labulo Davies : a colossus of Victorian Lagos

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As Davies’s business was in Africa, not long after the wedding the couple moved to Sierra Leone, and later to Lagos. They named their first daughter Victoria (born in 1863) after the queen, who became her godmother. In December 1867 Sarah presented the child to her royal namesake, and when Victoria was christened the queen sent her a gold cup, salver, knife, fork and spoon. Queen Victoria was so impressed by the girl’s natural regal manner and her gift for academic studies, Literature, Art and Music that she gave her an allowance for her welfare and Sarah became a regular visitor to Windsor Castle. Sarah’s genius became admired throughout the royal court and she continued to outshine her tutors with her advanced abilities in all studies.

Sarah Forbes Bonetta, by French photographer Camille-Léon-Louis Silvy (1834–1910), in a photo taken on Sept. 15. 1862. Wikimedia Commons Victoria Davies would later attend theCheltenham Ladies’ College, an independent boarding and day school for girls in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Being invited to meet the Queen was the highest honour a visitor could receive in 19th-century England. Crowther was invited to Windsor Castle with Lord Russell on November 18, 1851, when he met Prince Albert and his wife, Queen Victoria. Ajayi described his enslavement, the atrocities he endured, and the state of slavery in Lagos as of 1851. I love to move, to leap, to float …well, just let the spirit seize me at the sound of drums or music.’ While Sarah was in Freetown the queen continued to send her presents and books. Apparently unhappy there, Sarah returned to England after four years. Victoria then placed her with the Schoen family, former missionaries in Africa, who lived in Gillingham, Kent. Sarah lived with them for six years before moving to Brighton, much against her wishes, where Victoria had arranged for a Miss Welsh to oversee her introduction into British society.

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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. James Pinson Labulo Davies was born to James and Charlotte Davies in the village of Bathurst, Sierra Leone, then a British colony. His parents were recaptive Yoruba people liberated by the British West Africa Squadron from the Atlantic Slave Trade, and whose origins were in Abeokuta and Ogbomoso respectively. [1] More recently, Bristol Museums have announced that a series of photographs by the artist Heather Agyepong – inspired by the life of Sarah Forbes Bonetta – will go on display. As Queen Victoria’s protégée, Sarah was raised among the British upper class, and educated in both England and Sierra Leone. She became an accomplished pianist and linguist. In 1862 at St Nicholas’s Church in Brighton she married the merchant and philanthropist James Pinson Labulo Davies (1829-1906). These photographs were taken to mark their marriage.

To refuse, would have been to have signed her death warrant which, probably, would have been carried into execution forthwith. Immediately on arriving… Some months after their arrival in England, Forbes presented Sarah to Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle. The queen described Sarah in her journal entry for 9 November 1850, the date of their first meeting: James Pinson Labulo Davies was born to James and Charlotte Davies in the village of Bathurst, Sierra Leone, then a British colony. His parents were recaptive Yoruba people liberated by the British West Africa Squadron from the Atlantic Slave Trade, and whose origins were in Abeokuta and Ogbomoso respectively. Originally named Aina (or Ina), [3] she was born in about 1843 in Oke-Odan, an Egbado Yoruba village in West Africa which recently had Oyo Empire, as a result of pressures largely caused by the Oyo Empire and the Kingdom of Dahomey warring.

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It is usual to reserve the best born for the high behest of royalty and the immolation on the tombs of the diseased nobility. For one of these ends she had been detained at court for two years: proving, by her not having been sold to slave dealer, that she was of a good family. Davies was also a close associate and friend of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther. [13] Both men collaborated on a couple of Lagos social initiatives such as the opening of The Academy (a social and cultural center for public enlightenment) on 24 October 1866 with Bishop Crowther as the first patron and Davies as its first president. [14] Born in 1843 in Oke-Odan, an Egbado Yoruba village in West Africa, Bonetta was originally named Aina (or Ina). Her village had recently become independent from the Oyo Empire (modern-day southwestern Nigeria) after its collapse. James was born in Sierra Leone to Nigerian parents, and enlisted with the British Navy. He is credited with pioneering cocoa farming in West Africa. The couple returned to Africa soon after their wedding. Queen Victoria was godmother to their first child, Victoria who later attended Cheltenham Ladies College. Captain Labulo Davies also sponsored Thomas Babington Macaulay’s plan to establish the first secondary school in Nigeria, the CMS Grammar School, Lagos. Babington Macaulay was Samuel Ajayi Crowther’s son-in-law and Herbert Macaulay’s father. He was also related to Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Stella Ameyo Adadevoh, the Nigerian doctors who discovered the Ebola virus in 2014.

She returned to England with Forbes who presented her to Queen Victoria, who in turn gave her over to the Church Missionary Society to be educated. Sarah suffered from fragile health and in 1851 she returned to Africa to attend the Female Institution in Freetown, Sierra Leone. When she was 12 years old, Queen Victoria commanded that Sarah return to England, where she was placed under the charge of Mr and Mrs Schon at Chatham. In January 1862, 19-year-old Bonetta was a guest at the wedding of the Princess Royal Victoria, the eldest child of the Queen. In August of that year Bonetta herself was given permission by Queen Victoria to marry Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies, a 31-year-old wealthy Yoruba businessman from Sierra Leone. The couple married in an elaborate wedding at St. Nicholas Church in Brighton, England. Sarah arrived at the ceremony in an entourage that included ten carriages. The couple lived in Bristol, England briefly before returning to Sierra Leone. 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. [13] Wasson, Ellis (2009). A History of Modern Britain: 1714 to the Present. John Wiley & Sons. p.235. ISBN 9781405139359. Davies was also a close associate and friend of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther. Both men collaborated on a couple of Lagos social initiatives such as the opening of The Academy (a social and cultural center for public enlightenment) on October 24, 1866 with Bishop Crowther as the first patron and Davies as its first president.Ram Gopal was an international pioneer of Indian classical dance. Gopal’s skill in Bharata Natyam and Kathakali learnt from leading teachers was recognised early. Born in Bangalore, he defied the wishes of his father, a Rajput lawyer and his Burmese mother, to take up dance. He was supported by the Yuvaraja of Mysore and in the 1930s began touring extensively overseas, first with American dancer La Meri. So extraordinary a present would have been at least burden, had I not the conviction that, in consideration of the nature of the service I had performed, the government would consider her as the property of the crown. On her arrival in England, she was given the name 'Sarah Forbes Bonetta', after HMS Bonetta, on which Captain Forbes had sailed. In 1850, she was presented to the Queen at Windsor Castle. On 9th November, the Queen recorded in her journal: 'She is seven years old, sharp and intelligent and speaks English.' Victoria seems to have decided at this point that she should be responsible for Sarah’s education and welfare, as Forbes had no doubt hoped. Captain Forbes initially intended to raise Bonetta himself. He gave her the name Forbes, as well as that of his ship, the ‘Bonetta’. On the journey to England upon the ship, she reportedly became a favourite of the crew, who called her Sally. 3. She was educated between Africa and England

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.Sarah and James had two more children, but by the late 1860s Sarah was suffering from tuberculosis, for which there was no cure. She eventually travelled to Madeira, hoping that its temperate climate would help with her condition. But she died there on 15 August 1880, at the age of 37. a b c Rappaport, Helen (2003). Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion. ABC-CLIO Biographical Companions. p.307. ISBN 9781851093557. Anim-Addo, Joan (2015). "Bonetta [married name Davies], (Ina) Sarah Forbes [Sally] (C. 1843–1880), Queen Victoria's ward". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (onlineed.). Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/75453. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) Picture World: Image, Aesthetics, and Victorian New Media, Rachel Teutolsky, Oxford University Press, 2020, p. 267 Her daughter Victoria was given an annuity by the Queen and she continued to visit the royal household throughout her life. In his journal Captain Forbes gave an account of his mission with relation to Miss Bonetta.