Genealogy Chat

I have transcribed thousands of Marriages for the Liverpool area but this mornings batch included one in 1826 with a Margin note, "Both Black."
I haven't come across such a reference before and I felt very uncomfortable making the entry.

I can understand your feelings about that but it is no different really from transcribing from parish records the word bastard or the expression base born. A different world it was then :)

Look on it as a bonus for any rellies searching in the future.

In 1826 I would image that it was rare for clergy to marry Blacks in this country,its a bonus really to verify it....I wonder if they remained here.?
There was no PC back then but at best onother racist word wasnt used.

The definition of racism, or more correctly racialism means 1. Belief that a particular race or people is better others or 2. Hostility towards people of other races.

Nowhere does it say even today, that using a particular word falls within the definition.

I have seen baptisms, usually of adults, where it is noted the person was black. I seem to remember Hampstead, Middlesex, have a few and also that the occupation column gave the name of their employer.

Chris

Thanks for your observations.

All American censuses have a column for color or race.

PigletsPal,

While I agree with much of what you say, as an historian of Rome I must take issue with your account of the legions in Britain. They were in fact withdrawn from Britain by about 410 AD.

Peter

The 2011 census included the question "What is your ethnic group?"

The description 'Black' is included in a number of the answer choices.

While visiting the Essex Record Office today I noted they had a section devoted to multicultural Britain. Among the handouts was a set of sheets of extracts from Essex Parish Registers involving other races. From a quick glance it went back at least to the seventeenth century and involved a wide range of parishes.

PP,

You are probably right that some veterans may have stayed on in Britain but the legionaries would have had no choice: they were in the army and had to follow orders. It is clear from the emperor Honorius' reply to the Britons that he had withdrawn all the serving troops to protect the core of the empire.

To return to the original topic, I have researched the London docklands parishes of Wapping and Shadwell in the early C18 and have found several references to black or African people. I think the ethnic origin was mentioned for baptism because they were keen to baptise anyone who had not had infant christening and it was obviously odd for an adult to be recorded. However, the mention of colour for a burial suggests that black people were at that time something of a rarity even in dockland.

Peter