Know more about Marmadee Alla Sang (Africanus Maxwell)
There are few sources that tell us about Marmadee Alla Sang, and these are mostly drawn from newspaper reports after the man’s death. However, if believed they show us an extraordinary life, and a connection, albeit a tragic one, to our region.[1]
He was born around 1800 on or near to the island of Goree off the coast of modern-day Senegal, in a major centre of trading in enslaved people.
Goree Island was a place made miserable by the growing European empires. Goree was used as a stop off point for transporting British prisoners who were being forced to work in the enslavement of African people further down the Gold Coast.[2] When this scheme failed it was decided to use Australia. Goree Island was a last look at Africa for many destined to lives of enslavement across the Atlantic. A ‘door of no return,’ one of which still remains in the House of Slaves on the island.[3]
Sang was around 3 or 4 years old when, in 1804, his village was set on fire, forcing people out to be caught by Spanish enslavers. Sang was caught along with his teenage sister. The ship fled from the area up the River Gambia to capture more people.[4] This ship was chased and caught by a ship of the British Royal Africa Corps, which had been newly founded in 1800 to protect Goree Island.[5] The British Navy returned the Spanish ship and its human cargo back to Goree and there the people were sold for British profit. At the time Britain was at war with France and Spain and this privateering was legal. It was also a few years before the trade in enslaved people was abolished. Marmadee Alla Sang was bought by GBB Compton for $52 and separated from his sister.
Marmadee’s name was replaced with ‘Africa’ for the ease of his new enslaver, who according to Compton, treated him well. He was educated in Christianity, and he was taught to read. Compton then gave Marmadee to Captain Keith Maxwell.
(Keith Maxwell had commanded a ship called the Arab, which in 1805 had escorted a slave ship called Andersons to Funchal, a Portuguese Island off the coast of Morocco keeping the ship safe from the French and Spanish. From there Andersons took on board enslaved people in Sierra Leone and Bance Island, taking them to Jamaica in June 1806. The ship was later used as a West Indiaman and was eventually a general merchant ship in Whitby until 1826.[6])
Maxwell then ‘presented’ Sang to the Duchess of Gordon who had Sang Christened Africanus Maxwell, taking her last name. After her death he was returned to Keith Maxwell and after his death Sang joined the Royal Navy.
It is unclear on what terms Sang was moved from person to person, whether as an enslaved person, a person with very little choice in the matter, or someone seeking employment. However, this part does show that Sang was used by these people as a trophy, as was the fashion of the time for those rich enough to have Black servants. If enslaved, this shows another case where the Somerset ruling (LINK TO THE SOMERSET CASE) had little effect and enslavement in Britain was still alive.[7]
Compton writes with obvious affection for Sang and mourns his death. However, even he notes that Sang was in a strange country, and it must be noted, would not have been unless Compton had brought him to Britain.
It was in the Navy that Sang found himself on the Orestes and in North Shields. We do not know how long Sang had served on the Orestes. If it had been for a long time, we can presume that he would have sailed to Miramichi in 1825 to take supplies to the Canadian town that had been subject to a fire. From there to Bermuda and then north to North America. If he served on the ship in 1828, he would have been part of a rescue mission of merchant sailors taken by Barbary pirates, which led to a blockade of Morocco by the Royal Navy. In May 1831, the ship left Plymouth for what would be Sang’s final journey.[8]
This ship was moored in North Shields in 1831. The ship was there to keep a watchful eye on an area that was brimming with political unrest with reform being the call of the day in nationwide protests that would lead the following year to the Reform Act which allowed for an extension of suffrage to more men and more representation in urban areas. People were also challenging the unfair practices of reducing sailors’ wages. It was a violent time, and the ports were violent places to be.
In the early hours of 13th July 1831 Sang had been chased by two other sailors from the same ship. He asked a constable, Thomas Stamp Richmond who was on duty near to the Lord Collingwood public house on Union Road to arrest a man. The constable testified that Sang (known at this time as Maxwell) had blood on his face. But they were all let go. George Mallet and William Craggs were fellow sailors on The Orestes. Seeing no action taken Sang ran off to seek help elsewhere.
At 3am a cry was raised by a woman and Sang was found over the edge of the quay, lying in a punt. The tide was out. There are conflicting reports from witnesses. One says she saw Mallet push Sang over the quay onto the beach, a fall of about 7-8 feet. Then follow him down and dash his head against the punt. Other witnesses say they would have seen this, owing to the location but did not.
A very hastily organised inquest found it to be accidental. The inquest jury had been made up of other sailors from the same ship. This caused some stir in newspapers in the northeast and in London. Eventually the two men were put on trial for murder. They were both acquitted.[9]
This account comes from the Durham County Advertiser on 9th March 1832. Annoyingly there is a section of the news report that has been torn out. More details of the news report of the trial can be found in the British Newspaper Archives or Mr Ellis’s article has this report in detail.
There is no record in witness testimony that the attack on Sang was racially motivated. The seeming lack of justice, although shocking to our eyes, may be evidence of racial bias, but also may be evidence of how quick and lax the judicial system was in the 1830’s.
Sang is buried in Christ Church Tynemouth under the name Africanus Maxwell.
His death leaves many questions and his life just as many. We know of his life from the Compton letter and very little else. However, his experience highlights how Black people in the last years before abolition were taken, misused, and how they sought ways to make lives for themselves with very little support from the people who had brought them here.
Project North Star is indebted to the work of John Ellis on compiling the sources on Sang and his death. His advice on this has been so very useful.
Mr Ellis’ work on this can be found at https://www.academia.edu/45340783/Not_an_equal_share_of_happiness_The_Life_and_Death_of_Able_Seaman_Africanus_Maxwell_1800_1831
[1] Rather than tell this from the end of his life PNS will tell what is known from reports made and other contextual evidence with a more person centred, chronological method.
[2] Christopher, E. (2011) A merciless place: The lost story of Britain's convict disaster in Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pg2-3
[3] Rediker, M. (2011) The slave ship: A human history. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Pg 161
[4] Taken from Saturday 6th August 1831 Morning Advertiser as first seen in Not “an equal share of happiness”: The Life and Death of Able-Seaman Africanus Maxwell. 1800-1831. By John D Ellis accessed on 16/03/23 from Academia.eu https://www.academia.edu/45340783/Not_an_equal_share_of_happiness_The_Life_and_Death_of_Able_Seaman_Africanus_Maxwell_1800_1831
[5] Royal African Corps (2021) Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_African_Corps (Accessed: March 18, 2023).
[6] Andersons (1798 ship) (2022) Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andersons_(1798_ship) (Accessed: March 23, 2023). This also shows the fluid nature of slave ships, that they were used for other purposes as well as enslavement.
[7] Again, this information is taken from the Compton letter to the Morning Advertiser, but the language is very suspect, ‘I gave him to Captain Keith Maxwell,’ ‘he was presented to the late Duchess of Gordon’.
[8] (No date) HMS Orestes. Available at: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~pbtyc/18-1900/N/03324.html (Accessed: 28 April 2024).
For More on the blockage of Morrocco, see https://sites.rootsweb.com/~pbtyc/18-1900/M/03020.html . The Orestes in 1832 would sail to Ireland to be part of efforts to quell rebellion there.
[9] 1832, ‘Newcastle Assizes George Mallet (24) & WM Craggs (28)’Durham County Advertiser Pg 4.