Servant overcame prejudices to be successful entrepreneur
‘HEROIC’ STORY IS INSPIRATION MORE THAN 200 YEARS ON
HE was just three when he was brought to England from Sierra Leone, yet his story continues to inspire centuries later.
George Africanus (1763-1834) originally lived in Wolverhampton with the Molyneux family, where he was a servant, before moving to Nottingham to earn a living as a brass founder.
The father of seven would eventually make a name for himself as the founder of what many think was the first employment agency in Nottingham, called the “Africanus’ Register of Servants”.
Here, he employed others in domesticated work, allowing him to become a freeholder and enabling him voting rights.
Given his background and prejudices of the time, Africanus’s story is seen as unique and one that “still resonates today”.
The Molyneux family George lived with had strong links to Nottinghamshire in Teversal and Mansfield, which is thought to have helped him to settle into life in Nottingham.
It is known through archived records that George Africanus married a local woman, Esther Shaw, in St Peter’s Church, Nottingham, in 1788 and he was also involved with the “Watch and Ward” group, a volunteer police force established to protect businesses and the public against rioting gangs in the early 1800s.
It is also known he lived on 28 Chanders Lane, which today is Victoria Street, where a blue plaque in his honour was placed in 2014.
Norma Gregory, a local historian from Gedling, who has focused on black heritage in Nottinghamshire, helped unveil the plaque.
She said: “George’s story still resonates today and he’s a person that inspired people like me to achieve despite hardship and barriers.
“He did so well for himself. “He first arrived in England at Liverpool and was brought to Wolverhampton. We’ve also seen in records that he learned hairdressing, too.
“It would have been very difficult for black people here while he was alive.
“I consider him a great person to look up to and one of Nottingham’s heroes.
“His life is part of the city and he belongs to Nottingham. What impresses me is how much he built for himself when he came here with nothing.
“He was a black businessman in England in the 18th century which is just amazing. It’s so great that we are able to preserve his legacy now.”
In 2015,
Nottingham’s tram operator, NET, announced it had continued its trend of naming its trams after local heroes with one named after George Africanus.
He is buried in St. Mary’s Church and his gravestone was replaced around 2007.
A statement on the University of Nottingham website about his life reads: “On August 3, 1788, he married Esther Shaw, a local girl who had been baptised at St Mary’s church in Nottingham in 1768.
“George was recorded on his marriage licence as a brass founder, but he did other work as well; by 1815 a local business directory lists him as running a servants’ register office on Chandlers Lane in Nottingham.
“City records show he also owned property in Nottingham.
“As a freeholder he had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
“George played a part in community life. In 1816 he was included on a list of special constables who were responsible for ‘watching and warding’ the local streets.
“In 1829 George bought substantial property in Chandlers Lane which included two other properties let out to tenants. George died in 1834, aged 71 years, and was buried in St Mary’s churchyard in Nottingham on May 25.
“He was survived by his wife Esther, their daughter Hannah and grand-daughter Sarah.
“A plaque was erected at St Mary’s churchyard in 2003 in memory of Nottingham’s ‘first black entrepreneur’.”
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