Miscellenea Edintone

Olaudahn Equiano

In life Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745 – 31 March 1797) was known as Gustavus Vassa. Equiano has an unexplained link with the village of Soham in Cambridgeshire, England where he married an English lady, Susannah Cullen in 1792. It was from Soham in 1782 that the Baptist, Andrew Fuller originated before becoming the pastor of Kettering Baptist Church.

Olaudah Equiano together with William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson are celebrated by the Church of England on 30th July each year for their efforts in social reform and anti-slavery campaigning.

Until the recently the final resting place of Equiano has been unknown^[1]. What we do know is that he lived in London, at 13 Tottenham Street, London, in 1788; in 1789 he moved to what was then 10 Union Street and is now 73 Riding House Street. One of his last addresses appears to have been Plaisterers’ Hall in the City of London, where he drew up his will on 28 May 1796. He moved to John Street, Tottenham Court Road, close to Whitefield’s Methodist chapel. (It was rebuilt in in 1957 following war-time damage by a V2 rocket, for use by Congregationalists, now the site of the American International Church.) Lastly, he lived in Paddington Street, Middlesex, where he died.

Recent research has revealed that following Equiano’s death on 31 March 1797 he was buried at Whitefield’s Methodist chapel on 6 April 1797.^[2]

The entry reads “6 [April 1797]  Gustus Vasa, 52 years, St Mary Le bone”

We might conclude that Equiano found the Calvinistic message of Whitefield’s chapel to his liking. At the time the chapel was pastored by Rev. Torial Joss, George Whitefield having died in 1770. Joss himself died a few days after Equiano and was buried on 22 April 1797 in the chapel.

Olaudah Equiano burial

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaudah_Equiano#Last_days_and_will

[2] London Metropolitan Archives; Clerkenwell, London, England; Whitefield’s Memorial Church [Formerly Tottenham Court Road Chapel], Tottenham Court Road, Saint Pancras, Register of burials; Reference Code: LMA/4472/A/01/004

The August 2015 edition of Footprints includes an update on Nonconformists in Northamptonshire.

Sources for researching Nonconformists in Northamptonshire

by Graham Ward

The Northamptonshire Family History Society have published a booklet written by myself as a guide to the multitude of resources available when researching nonconformist history and family connections.  Details are available here, together with a summary of the web sites referred to in the booklet.

Available from the Northamptonshire Family History Society bookstall for £2.50 plus postage (UK 45p, airmail £1.40) ISBN 1904460275, First published November 2004, revised 2007.

The 1851 Religious Census of Northamptonshire

by Graham Ward

One of the main features of Victorian local history was the balance between the religious denominations, which varied from place to place. The one and only time a religious census was taken in this country was in 1851. This exercise was undertaken alongside the regular census, taken every ten years from 1801. This volume gives a synopsis of the returns of each place of religious worship in every place in the county, and Graham Ward, the editor, explains the problems inherent in the way the census was designed and looks at issues raised by this one and only attempt to measure religious allegiance with statistical precision.

This is a Victor Hatley Memorial volume available from the Northamptonshire Record Society Wotton Hall Park, Northampton, UK, NN4 8BQ  Telephone: 01604 762297. ISBN 0 901275 65 4, 266 pages, Published 2007.  The cost is £9.50 (plus p & p) .