If the date is correct then it's after the Somerset ruling which was interpreted (wrongly I would argue) as freeing slaves in England. Therefore it would seem unlikely that a slave would seek to escape via a gaol sentence. In fact it might be quite dangerous to do so, since if convicted there would be a risk of transportation and before 1776 the destination would have been America. I have often wondered what happened to black transportees (and there were a few). Did they get their freedom at the end of the sentence or did they slip into real slavery?
Ruth
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From: The Black and Asian Studies Association on behalf of Marika Sherwood
Sent: Tue 03/08/2010 17:50
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject:
From a review of
WHEN LONDON WAS CAPITAL OF AMERICA By Julie Flavell, Illustrated. 305 pp. Yale University Press. $32.50
Julie Flavell's "When London Was Capital of America" illuminates this fascinating chapter of London's -- and North America's -- past, showing how the metropolis functioned as a magnet for colonists from across the Atlantic (including the West Indies) who sought accomplishment, opportunity and commerce..........
Among her subjects is Henry Laurens, a Southern plantation... Arriving in London in October 1771 along with two of his sons and a slave... Scipio, began calling himself Robert Laurens as soon as he stepped ashore, obviously eager to be rid of what was clearly identifiable as a slave name. He wanted, Flavell suggests, "to be taken seriously in England."... The temptation to stay in Britain must have been overwhelming: in early 1774, just as Henry Laurens was planning to return to South Carolina, Robert committed a burglary and was imprisoned for 12 months. "Detained at His Majesty's pleasure," Flavell explains, Robert was "where Henry could not get him." Henry Laurens departed from England without his slave. Robert left prison a free man and remained in Britain.
Does anyone know of any other instances of this brilliant tactic to obtain freedom?
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