Who discovered sierra leone in 1462

British surgeon and writer

Alexander Falconbridge (c. –) was a British surgeon who took part in four voyages in slave ships between and In time he became an abolitionist and in published An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa.

Biography of albert einstein They then minutely inspect their persons, and inquire into their state of health; if they are afflicted with any infirmity, or are deformed, or have bad eyes or teeth; if they are lame, or weak in the joints, or distorted in the back, or of a slender make, or are narrow in the chest; in short, if they have been afflicted in any manner so as to render them incapable of such labour they are rejected. The consequence was that I soon after fell sick of the same disorder from which I did not recover for several months Some wet and blowing weather having occasioned the port-holes to be shut and the grating to be covered, fluxes and fevers among the Negroes ensued. The colony was eventually named Freetown.

In he was sent by the Anti-Slavery Society to Granville Town, Sierra Leone, a community of freed slaves, where he died a year later in

Early life

Falconbridge was born around in England or Scotland, possibly Prestonpans or Bristol.

The slave trade

The British surgeon Alexander Falconbridge served as a ship's surgeon on four slave trade voyages between and (on the ships Tartar (–), Emilia (), Alexander () and, again, Emilia () before rejecting the slave trade and becoming an abolitionist.

(In , French naval forces captured Tartar on her second voyage to transport enslaved people, but before she had taken on any captives.)

Falconbridge gained his experience on slave ships before he met the anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Clarkson following which he became a member of the Anti-Slavery Society. Clarkson was the author of a pamphlet en*led A Summary View of the Slave Trade and of the Probable Consequences of Its Abolition, published in Clarkson had a high regard for Falconbridge who on more than one occasion acted as his personal armed bodyguard whilst he gathered evidence against the slave trade.

After meeting Clarkson, Falconbridge published in An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa, an influential book in the abolitionist movement.

In this book, he talked about the trade from when the ships first acquired captives from the African coast, through their treatment during the Middle P*age, to the time they were sold into hereditary bondage in the West Indies

In Alexander gave verbal evidence before a House of Commons Committee. Many of them were hostile toward him.

Final voyage and death

Sierra Leoneengraved by John Matthews in

In , Falconbridge was selected by the Anti-Slavery Society to sail to Sierra Leone with his wife Anna Maria; and his brother William, with the intent of reorganising the failed settlement of freed slaves in Granville Town, Sierra Leone.

They arrived as p*engers on the enslaving ship Duke of Buccleugh.

Alexander falcon bridge biography of albert einstein In the present instance, such an appearance being prevented, the bargain was struck and the slaves were accordingly sold. Contents move to sidebar hide. Legacy [ edit ]. The men, on being brought aboard the ship, are immediately fastened together, two and two, by handcuffs on their wrists and by irons rivetted on their legs.

On the voyage out Falconbridge had numerous drunken disputes with Captain John Malean, Duke of Buccleugh's master; Anna Maria would retire to her cabin during these disputes.

Unfortunately, Anna Maria did not share Alexander's idealistic views about the settlement. The couple quarrelled; Falconbridge began to drink excessively, due to marital problems and ailing health and, it would seem, disenchantment with the Sierra Leone Company.

A number of Falconbridge's contemporaries were dismissed for vague reasons and it may be that the Company used them as scapegoats. Dismissals included Charles Horwood, brother of Anna Maria, Isaac DuBois (Anna's second husband), and eventually Clarkson himself.

Falconbridge eventually died of drinking a week before Christmas Henry Thornton, chairman of the Sierra Leone Company, replaced him as the company's commercial agent only hours before his death.

Alexander falcon bridge biography of albert Toggle the table of contents. Both Alexander and his brother William, who died in Freetown the previous year, are most likely buried in the Freetown area, though the exact location is not recorded. He was also to form a settlement for them. Category : DNB biographies.

The Sierra Leone company refused to acknowledge the claim of his wife Anna Maria for monies owed to her late husband and, perhaps conveniently, the company records went missing.

Legacy

The colony was eventually named Freetown, and it seems likely that Falconbridge Point in Freetown is named after Alexander Falconbridge. Both Alexander and his brother William, who died in Freetown the previous year, are most likely buried in the Freetown area, though the exact location is not recorded.

See also

  • John Clarkson (abolitionist)

Notes

References

  • Lovejoy, Henry B.

    (). Prieto: Yorùbá Kingship in Colonial Cuba during the Age of Revolutions. UNC Press.

    Alexander falcon bridge biography of albert hall Review Questions. As his biographer, Christopher Fyfe , has pointed out, this was "a potentially lucrative employment since surgeons received, as well as their salary, 1s. The women also are placed in a separate apartment between decks, but without being ironed. Tools Tools.

    ISBN

  • Mackenzie-Grieve, Averil. (). The Last Years of the English Slave Trade, Liverpool, . Putnam.

External links

  • Alexander Falconbridge () An account of the slave trade on the coast of Africa on the Internet Archive