Children freed from slavery and brought to Scotland remembered by plaque
A plaque in an Edinburgh graveyard remembers Tom, a child “redeemed from slavery” and laid to rest in the capital, aged just 13.
Behind the plaque is a story of a boy who was bought from his master in the Congo by a Christian mission and then brought to Scotland in 1883 by the man now charged with his care.
Tom lived with his adoptive father Joseph Clarke and his adopted siblings from the Congo - brother Theo and sisters Vungaandnkebani–inahouse in Morningside Park.
In Scotland, it is likely Clarke, originallyfromaberdeen,took Tom and the others on tour to promote the work of the mission,withaudiencesofferedthe chance to free an enslaved boy just like him for just £5.
Dr Christine Whyte, lecturer in global history at Glasgow University, said: “Public lectures were held by the mission acrossthecountryandthefreed enslaved children from Africa would accompany them, to help to raise funds for the mission.
"The idea that these children were redeemed from slavery was emphasised with the public told that £5 was the amount needed to redeem a child from slavery in Africa.”
At one such meeting, a family fromaberdeenpledged£20on theconditionthattwoboysand twogirlswerefreed.clarketravelled to Africa in 1879 with the Livingstoneinlandmission,set upamidtheoutpouringofpublic grief following the death of the Scots explorer in Zambia.
The Aberdonian was stationed at Palabala, where missionaries
traded goods to free children, with bales of cloth sometimes exchanged for the liberty of girls and boys.
Children of high status locals also sent their children to the mission to be educated, with land sometimes gifted by elite membersofthecommunityfor the cause.
Before mission life, accounts from enslaved children tell of thembeingmovedthroughvast
territories, often being marked orbrandedontheirbodyasthey passed between owners.
Drwhytesaid:“veryfrequently, children were pawned, so they would be given as a securityonadebtbypeoplewhenthey were really desperate.
“There were also instances whenchildrenwerekidnapped during low lying local conflicts. In some places in the Congo during the time, children were
sometimes trafficked to the east coast and then India.” At the mission stations, children like Tom were educated and trained in skills such as printing and carpentry.
Afterbeingbroughttotheuk, great emphasis was also put on improving their English language skills, with many carrying out translation work and compiling dictionaries and grammar sets in their first language.
“This was regarded as important work for the mission, and important work for the Empire,” Dr Whyte said.
In Morningside, Tom’s sister, Vunga, who was given the English name Lena, became a talented linguist. After returning to the Congo, she recorded valuable testimonies of those victimised by the regime of King Leopold II, who embarked on a campaign of terror against the Congolese people as he and his private army sought to acquire ivory, minerals and rubber from the land.
Tomneverreturnedhomebut died in Lochrin House in Gilmour Street, where he suffered ulcerationofthestomach.children from a local church laid the memorial to him.