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56-776: Torrington may refer to: People [ edit ] Arthur Torrington , Guyanese-born co-founder of the Windrush Foundation and the Equiano Society Jeff Torrington , Scottish writer John Torrington , English explorer and Royal Navy stoker George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington , British naval officer and statesman Places [ edit ] Australia [ edit ] Torrington, New South Wales Torrington, Queensland Canada [ edit ] Torrington, Alberta United Kingdom [ edit ] Black Torrington ,

112-510: A "protestant of the church of England" but also flirted with Methodism . Several events in Equiano's life led him to question his faith. He was distressed in 1774 by the kidnapping of his friend, a black cook named John Annis, who was taken forcibly off the British ship Anglicania on which they were both serving. His friend's kidnapper, William Kirkpatrick, did not abide by the decision in

168-659: A 1773 ship's muster that indicates South Carolina. Carretta's conclusion is disputed by other scholars who believe the weight of evidence supports Equiano's account of coming from Africa. In Virginia, Equiano was bought by Michael Henry Pascal, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy . Pascal renamed the boy "Gustavus Vassa", after the 16th-century King of Sweden Gustav Vasa who began the Protestant Reformation in Sweden . Equiano had already been renamed twice: he

224-713: A colony founded in 1792 for freed slaves by Britain in West Africa. During the American Revolutionary War , Britain had recruited black people to fight with it by offering freedom to those who left rebel masters. In practice, it also freed women and children, and attracted thousands of slaves to its lines in New York City, which it occupied, and in the South, where its troops occupied Charleston, South Carolina . When British troops were evacuated at

280-826: A deckhand based in England. In 1773 on the Royal Navy ship HMS Racehorse , he travelled to the Arctic in an expedition towards the North Pole . On that voyage he worked with Dr Charles Irving , who had developed a process to distill seawater and later made a fortune from it. Two years later, Irving recruited Equiano for a project on the Mosquito Coast in Central America, where he was to use his African background to help select slaves and manage them as labourers on sugar-cane plantations. Irving and Equiano had

336-404: A fictional account; his work is shaped as an autobiography. Lovejoy wrote that: circumstantial evidence indicates that he was born where he said he was, and that, in fact, The Interesting Narrative is reasonably accurate in its details, although, of course, subject to the same criticisms of selectivity and self-interested distortion that characterize the genre of autobiography. Lovejoy uses

392-592: A growing anti-slavery movement in Great Britain, Europe and the New World. His account surprised many with the quality of its imagery, description and literary style. In his account, Equiano gives details about his hometown and the laws and customs of the Eboe people . After being captured as a boy, he described communities he passed through as a captive on his way to the coast. His biography details his voyage on

448-408: A large literary genre. But Equiano's experience in slavery was quite different from that of most slaves; he did not participate in field work, he served his owners personally and went to sea, was taught to read and write, and worked in trading. Equiano's personal account of slavery, his journey of advancement, and his experiences as a black immigrant caused a sensation on publication. The book fuelled

504-451: A leading abolitionist in the 1780s, lecturing in numerous cities against the slave trade. Equiano records his and Granville Sharp 's central roles in the anti-slave trade movement, and their effort to publicise the Zong massacre , which became known in 1783. Reviewers have found that his book demonstrated the full and complex humanity of Africans as much as the inhumanity of slavery. The book

560-575: A pioneer in asserting "the dignity of African life in the white society of his time". In researching his life, some scholars since the late 20th century have disputed Equiano's account of his origins. In 1999 while editing a new version of Equiano's memoir, Vincent Carretta, a professor of English at the University of Maryland, found two records that led him to question the former slave's account of being born in Africa. He first published his findings in

616-760: A plaque at St Andrew's Church , Chesterton, Cambridge . Joanna Vassa married the Reverend Henry Bromley, a Congregationalist minister, in 1821. They are both buried at the non-denominational Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington , London; the Bromleys' monument is now a Grade II listed building . He drew up his will on 28 May 1796. At the time he was living at the Plaisterers' Hall , then on Addle Street, in Aldermanbury in

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672-582: A slave ship and the brutality of slavery in the colonies of the West Indies , Virginia and Georgia. Equiano commented on the reduced rights that freed people of colour had in these same places, and they also faced risks of kidnapping and enslavement. Equiano embraced Christianity at the age of 14 and its importance to him is a recurring theme in his autobiography. He was baptised into the Church of England in 1759; he described himself in his autobiography as

728-536: A teenager in the 1960s. Torrington joined forces with Sam King to establish the Windrush Foundation, in 1996, to ensure that the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush would be appropriately marked and celebrated; as reported in the Guyana Chronicle : "Using their own resources, Arthur and Sam went around the country, gathering together as many people as possible, with stories of

784-732: A valet during the Seven Years' War with France (1756–1763). Equiano gives witness reports of the Siege of Louisbourg (1758) , the Battle of Lagos (1759) and the Capture of Belle Île (1761). Also trained in seamanship, Equiano was expected to assist the ship's crew in times of battle; his duty was to haul gunpowder to the gun decks. Pascal favoured Equiano and sent him to his sister-in-law in Great Britain so that he could attend school and learn to read and write. Equiano converted to Christianity and

840-829: A village in Devon East Torrington , a small village in Lincolnshire Great Torrington , a market town in north Devon Little Torrington , a village in Devon West Torrington , a small village in Lincolnshire Torrington (UK Parliament constituency) , in Devon United States [ edit ] Torrington, Connecticut Torrington, Wyoming Other uses [ edit ] Battle of Torrington , fought in 1646 during

896-551: A working relationship and friendship for more than a decade, but the plantation venture failed. Equiano met with George , the " Musquito king 's son". Equiano left the Mosquito Coast in 1776 and arrived at Plymouth , England, on 7 January 1777. Equiano settled in London, where in the 1780s he became involved in the abolitionist movement . The movement to end the slave trade had been particularly strong among Quakers, but

952-539: A writer and abolitionist. According to his memoir, he was from the village of Essaka in modern southern Nigeria . Enslaved as a child in West Africa, he was shipped to the Caribbean and sold to a Royal Navy officer. He was sold twice more before purchasing his freedom in 1766. As a freedman in London, Equiano supported the British abolitionist movement , in the 1780s becoming one of its leading figures. Equiano

1008-695: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Arthur Torrington Also in 1996, Torrington set up the Equiano Society , with the main objective of celebrating the life and work of Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745–1797), as well as the literary and cultural legacy in Britain of Equiano's African contemporaries. Born in British Guiana (modern-day Guyana), Torrington attended St Ambrose Primary School and Tutorial High School, and went in Britain as

1064-675: The City of London . He moved to John Street (now Whitfield Street ), close to Whitefield's Tabernacle, Tottenham Court Road . At his death on 31 March 1797, he was living in Paddington Street , Westminster . Equiano's death was reported in American as well as British newspapers. Equiano was buried at Whitefield's Tabernacle on 6 April. The entry in the register reads "Gustus Vasa, 52 years, S Mary Le bone ". His burial place has been lost. The small burial ground lay either side of

1120-420: The Empire Windrush and what would come to be known as the ' Windrush Generation '. ... Their goal was to turn the 'Empire Windrush' into an iconic symbol, representing early Caribbean migrants and their contribution to the rebuilding of Britain after WWII. It worked and the 50th anniversary turned out to be a huge success, spawning books and TV and radio documentaries. Sam, who had sailed on the 'Empire Windrush',

1176-832: The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade was founded in 1787 as a non-denominational group, with Anglican members, in an attempt to influence parliament directly. Under the Test Act , only those prepared to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper according to the rites of the Church of England were permitted to serve as MPs. Equiano had been influenced by George Whitefield 's evangelism . As early as 1783, Equiano informed abolitionists such as Granville Sharp about

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1232-653: The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade . Equiano's comments on issues were published in newspapers such as the Public Advertiser and the Morning Chronicle . He replied to James Tobin in 1788, in the Public Advertiser , attacking two of his pamphlets and a related book from 1786 by Gordon Turnbull. Equiano had more of a public voice than most Africans or Black Loyalists and he seized various opportunities to use it. Equiano

1288-564: The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage . Equiano was befriended and supported by abolitionists, many of whom encouraged him to write and publish his life story. He was supported financially in this effort by philanthropic abolitionists and religious benefactors. His lectures and preparation for the book were promoted by, among others, Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon . Entitled The Interesting Narrative of

1344-476: The Somersett Case (1772), that slaves could not be taken from England without their permission, as common law did not support the institution in England & Wales. Kirkpatrick had Annis transported to Saint Kitts , where he was punished severely and worked as a plantation labourer until he died. With the aid of Granville Sharp , Equiano tried to get Annis released before he was shipped from England but

1400-609: The American Revolution by the British. There were also some freed slaves from the Caribbean, and some who had been brought by their owners to England and freed later after the decision that Britain had no basis in common law for slavery. The black community numbered about 20,000. After the Revolution some 3,000 former slaves had been transported from New York to Nova Scotia, where they became known as Black Loyalists , among other Loyalists also resettled there. Many of

1456-485: The Caribbean islands. King allowed Equiano to buy his freedom, which he achieved in 1766. The merchant urged Equiano to stay on as a business partner. However, Equiano found it dangerous and limiting to remain in the British colonies as a freedman . While loading a ship in Georgia, he was almost kidnapped back into enslavement. By about 1768, Equiano had gone to Britain. He continued to work at sea, travelling sometimes as

1512-1021: The English Civil War Earl of Torrington , a title in the British peerage Viscount Torrington , a title in the British peerage HMS Torrington , the name of four ships of the Royal Navy SS Torrington , British collier built in 1905, sunk by German submarine in April 1917 Torrington (1847 brig) , a sailing brig built in 1847 in Nova Scotia, which sank in New Zealand in 1851 Torrington F.C. , football club in Great Torrington, Devon Torrington railway station , Devon Torrington Company , Antifriction Bearing Company See also [ edit ] Thorrington Topics referred to by

1568-730: The Guerins testified to his lack of English when he first came to London. In December 1762, Pascal sold Equiano to Captain James Doran of the Charming Sally at Gravesend , from where he was transported back to the Caribbean, to Montserrat , in the Leeward Islands . There, he was sold to Robert King, an American Quaker merchant from Philadelphia who traded in the Caribbean. Robert King set Equiano to work on his shipping routes and in his stores. In 1765, when Equiano

1624-533: The Guyana High Commission in London the "Windrush Lifetime Service" Award, for his "tireless work to raise awareness of the contribution of the Windrush generation ... a lasting gift to current and future generations". Olaudah Equiano Olaudah Equiano ( / ə ˈ l aʊ d ə / ; c. 1745 – 31 March 1797), known for most of his life as Gustavus Vassa ( / ˈ v æ s ə / ), was

1680-623: The Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (1789), the book went through nine editions in his lifetime. It is one of the earliest-known examples of published writing by an African writer to be widely read in England. By 1792, it was a best seller and had been published in Russia, Germany, Holland and the United States. It was the first influential slave narrative of what became

1736-449: The account of his African origins, and adopted material from others. But Paul Lovejoy , Alexander X. Byrd and Douglas Chambers note how many general and specific details Carretta can document from sources that related to the slave trade in the 1750s as described by Equiano, including the voyages from Africa to Virginia, sale to Pascal in 1754, and others. They conclude he was more likely telling what he understood as fact, rather than creating

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1792-463: The area and had two daughters, Anna Maria (1793–1797) and Joanna (1795–1857) who were baptised at Soham church. Susannah died in February 1796, aged 34, and Equiano died a year after that on 31 March 1797. Soon after, Anna died at the age of four, leaving Joanna to inherit Equiano's estate when she was 21; it was then valued at £950 (equivalent to £92,000 in 2023). Anna Maria is commemorated by

1848-843: The chapel and is now Whitfield Gardens. The site of the chapel is now the American International Church . Equiano's will, in the event of his daughters' deaths before reaching the age of 21 , bequeathed half his wealth to the Sierra Leone Company for a school in Sierra Leone, and half to the London Missionary Society . Following publication in 1967 of a newly edited version of his memoir by Paul Edwards , interest in Equiano revived. Scholars from Nigeria have also begun studying him. For example, O. S. Ogede identifies Equiano as

1904-649: The end of the war, their officers also evacuated these former American slaves. They were resettled in the Caribbean, in Nova Scotia , in Sierra Leone in Africa, and in London. Britain refused to return the slaves, which the United States sought in peace negotiations. In 1783, following the United States' gaining independence, Equiano became involved in helping the Black Poor of London, who were mostly those former African-American slaves freed during and after

1960-821: The freedmen found it difficult to make new lives in London or Canada. Equiano was appointed " Commissary of Provisions and Stores for the Black Poor going to Sierra Leone" in November 1786. This was an expedition to resettle London's Black Poor in Freetown , a new British colony founded on the west coast of Africa, in present-day Sierra Leone . The blacks from London were joined by more than 1,200 Black Loyalists who chose to leave Nova Scotia . They were aided by John Clarkson , younger brother of abolitionist Thomas Clarkson . Jamaican maroons , as well as slaves liberated from illegal slave-trading ships after Britain abolished

2016-555: The insurrectionary United Irishmen, the society was suppressed. On 7 April 1792, Equiano married Susannah Cullen, a local woman, in St Andrew's Church, Soham , Cambridgeshire. The original marriage register containing the entry for Vassa and Cullen is held today by the Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies . He included his marriage in every edition of his autobiography from 1792 onwards. The couple settled in

2072-470: The journal Slavery and Abolition . At a 2003 conference in England, Carretta defended himself against Nigerian academics, like Obiwu , who accused him of "pseudo-detective work" and indulging "in vast publicity gamesmanship". In his 2005 biography, Carretta suggested that Equiano may have been born in South Carolina rather than Africa, as he was twice recorded from there. Carretta wrote: Equiano

2128-576: The late 20th century and remains a useful primary source. According to his memoir, Equiano was born around 1745 in the Igbo village of Essaka in what is now southern Nigeria. He claimed his home was part of the Kingdom of Benin . Equiano recounted an incident of an attempted kidnapping of children in his Igbo village, which was foiled by adults. When he was around the age of eleven, he and his sister were left alone to look after their family premises, as

2184-464: The long and fascinating history of autobiographies that distort or exaggerate the truth. ... Seldom is one crucial portion of a memoir totally fabricated and the remainder scrupulously accurate; among autobiographers ... both dissemblers and truth-tellers tend to be consistent. He also noted that "since the 'rediscovery' of Vassa's account in the 1960s, scholars have valued it as the most extensive account of an eighteenth-century slave's life and

2240-430: The name of Vassa in his article, since that was what the man used throughout his life, in "his baptism, his naval records, marriage certificate and will". He emphasises that Vassa only used his African name in his autobiography. Other historians also argue that the fact that many parts of Equiano's account can be proven lends weight to accepting his account of African birth. As historian Adam Hochschild has written: In

2296-583: The port for the Middle Passage , Equiano was hosted by the leading United Irishman, publisher of their Painite newspaper the Northern Star , Samuel Neilson . Following the onset of war with revolutionary France, leading members of the LCS, including Thomas Hardy with whom Equiano lodged in 1792, were charged with treason, and in 1799, following evidence of communication between leading members and

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2352-508: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Torrington . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Torrington&oldid=1257833268 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists Hidden categories: Short description

2408-440: The slave trade, also settled at Freetown in the early decades. Equiano was dismissed from the new settlement after protesting against financial mismanagement and he returned to London. Equiano was a prominent figure in London and often served as a spokesman for the black community. He was one of the leading members of the Sons of Africa , a small abolitionist group composed of free Africans in London. They were closely allied with

2464-518: The slave trade; that year he was the first to tell Sharp about the Zong massacre , which was being tried in London as litigation for insurance claims. It became a cause célèbre for the abolitionist movement and contributed to its growth. On 21 October 1785 he was one of eight delegates from Africans in America to present an 'Address of Thanks' to the Quakers at a meeting in Gracechurch Street , London. The address referred to A Caution to Great Britain and her Colonies by Anthony Benezet , founder of

2520-454: The touring exhibition Making Freedom , which opened at the Black Cultural Archives , marking full Emancipation in the Caribbean that took place on 1 August 1868. Torrington was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2002 for services to Community Relations in London, and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2011 , for services to Black British heritage. In 2018, Torrington received from

2576-411: Was about 20 years old, King promised that for his purchase price of 40 pounds (equivalent to £6,900 in 2023) he could buy his freedom . King taught him to read and write more fluently, guided him along the path of religion, and allowed Equiano to engage in profitable trading for his own account, as well as on his owner's behalf. Equiano sold fruits, glass tumblers and other items between Georgia and

2632-610: Was among those who met Prince Charles at St James's Palace for an official ceremony to mark the occasion." In 2018, the Windrush Foundation led the project "Windrush70" to mark the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush . Torrington also co-founded in London in 1996 a community organisation named the Equiano Society, to publicise the achievements of Olaudah Equiano and his 18th-century African contemporaries, including such figures as Ignatius Sancho and Ottobah Cugoano , who made outstanding contributions to African and European literature. In 2014, Torrington curated

2688-495: Was an active member of the radical working-class London Corresponding Society , which campaigned for democratic reform. In 1791–92, touring the British Isles with his autobiography and drawing on abolitionist networks he brokered connections for the LCS, including what may have been the Society's first contacts with the United Irishmen . In Belfast , where his appearance in May 1791 was celebrated by abolitionists who five years previously had defeated plans to commission vessels in

2744-399: Was baptised at St Margaret's, Westminster , on 9 February 1759, when he was described in the parish register as "a Black, born in Carolina, 12 years old". His godparents were Mary Guerin and her brother, Maynard, who were cousins of his master Pascal. They had taken an interest in him and helped him to learn English. Later, when Equiano's origins were questioned after his book was published,

2800-506: Was called Michael while on board the slave ship that brought him to the Americas, and Jacob by his first owner. This time, Equiano refused and told his new owner that he would prefer to be called Jacob. His refusal, he says, "gained me many a cuff" and eventually he submitted to the new name. He used this name for the rest of his life, including on all official records; he only used Equiano in his autobiography. Pascal took Equiano with him when he returned to England and had him accompany him as

2856-517: Was certainly African by descent. The circumstantial evidence that Equiano was also African-American by birth and African-British by choice is compelling but not absolutely conclusive. Although the circumstantial evidence is not equivalent to proof, anyone dealing with Equiano's life and art must consider it. According to Carretta, Equiano/Vassa's baptismal record and a naval muster roll document him as from South Carolina . Carretta interpreted these anomalies as possible evidence that Equiano had made up

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2912-423: Was common when adults went out of the house to work. They were kidnapped and taken far from their home, separated and sold to slave traders . He tried to escape but was thwarted. After his owners changed several times, Equiano happened to meet with his sister but they were separated again. Six or seven months after he had been kidnapped, he arrived at the coast where he was taken on board a European slave ship . He

2968-436: Was considered an exemplary work of English literature by a new African author. Equiano did so well in sales that he achieved independence from his benefactors. He travelled throughout England, Scotland and Ireland promoting the book, spending eight months in Ireland alone between 1792 and 1793. He worked to improve economic, social and educational conditions in Africa. Specifically, he became involved in working in Sierra Leone ,

3024-423: Was part of the abolitionist group the Sons of Africa , whose members were Africans living in Britain. His 1789 autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano , sold so well that nine editions were published during his life and helped secure passage of the British Slave Trade Act 1807 , which abolished the slave trade. The Interesting Narrative gained renewed popularity among scholars in

3080-451: Was transported with 244 other enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to Barbados in the British West Indies . He and a few other slaves were sent on for sale in the Colony of Virginia . Literary scholar Vincent Carretta argued in his 2005 biography of Equiano that the activist could have been born in colonial South Carolina rather than Africa, based on a 1759 parish baptismal record that lists Equiano's place of birth as Carolina and

3136-601: Was unsuccessful. He heard that Annis was not free from suffering until he died in slavery. Despite his questioning, he affirms his faith in Christianity, as seen in the penultimate sentence of his work that quotes the prophet Micah ( Micah 6:8 ): "After all, what makes any event important, unless by its observation we become better and wiser, and learn 'to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God? ' " In his account, Equiano also told of his settling in London. He married an English woman and lived with her in Soham , Cambridgeshire, where they had two daughters. He became

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