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| Society for the Relief of the Black Poor | |
|---|---|
| Name | Society for the Relief of the Black Poor |
| Formation | 1786 |
| Founder | Elizabeth Heyrick?; Thomas Boddington; Granville Sharp; Richard Phillips (physician)? |
| Type | Charity |
| Purpose | Relief of destitute people of African descent in London |
| Headquarters | St George's Fields?; London |
| Region | Great Britain |
| Language | English language |
Society for the Relief of the Black Poor was an charity formed in London in 1786 to provide relief to destitute people of African descent, including veterans of the American Revolutionary War, formerly enslaved people from the Caribbean, and migrants from the Atlantic slave trade. The society operated amid debates in Parliament of Great Britain, parish relief administered under the Poor Law, abolitionist campaigns led by figures such as William Wilberforce and Granville Sharp, and imperial migration schemes connected to the settlement of Sierra Leone. Its initiatives combined direct relief, vocational assistance, and organized emigration, producing contested outcomes that influenced later institutions and colonial projects.
The society emerged from networks linking London philanthropy, abolitionist activism, and evangelical circles in the late 1780s. Prominent individuals associated with its foundation included Granville Sharp, an advocate in the Somersett v. Stewart aftermath; Thomas Boddington, connected to African Company of Merchants and philanthropic committees; and clergy and physicians engaged with charitable practice in parishes such as St George's Fields. Influences included earlier relief efforts like the Foundling Hospital and contemporary campaigns by William Wilberforce and the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The society’s creation reflected the intersection of metropolitan concern over urban poverty following the American War of Independence, the return of Black Loyalists, and debates about colonial resettlement exemplified by proposals from figures such as Philip Ludwell III and administrators of the Province of Nova Scotia.
The society provided medical care, food, clothing, and fuel distribution, operating from soup kitchens and parish rooms similar to the facilities run by St Bartholomew's Hospital and mission societies. It arranged schooling and vocational training echoing practices at the Foundling Hospital and the Royal Humane Society for basic skills and employment placement in trades connected to Woolwich Dockyard and West India Docks. The organization coordinated temporary lodging with parish overseers and transferred some recipients to maritime employment aboard ships out of Port of London and coastal ports such as Plymouth and Liverpool. Its most ambitious activity was sponsoring voluntary emigration to establish a colony in Sierra Leone, in collaboration with colonial patrons and naval officers like Prefectures? and agents tied to the Royal Navy.
Governance combined philanthropic patrons, clerical allies, and metropolitan notables. Leading governors and committee members drew from circles including abolitionists, merchants involved with the African Company of Merchants, and philanthropic reformers such as Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp. Meetings and accounts were managed in London committee rooms near centers like Blackfriars and Whitechapel; record-keeping followed contemporary charity models used by the Foundling Hospital and Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The society appointed stewards and trustees, coordinated with parish officials under the Poor Law Amendment milieu, and engaged legal counsel when issues of settlement and parish rates arose.
The society raised funds through subscriptions, charitable donations, and benefit events similar to subscription campaigns run by Royal Society patrons and abolitionist fundraising led by William Wilberforce. Prominent subscribers included merchants tied to South Sea Company and philanthropic elites who published subscription lists in periodicals circulated in Fleet Street and at coffeehouses like Lloyd's Coffee House. Fundraising strategies included sermons delivered at churches such as St Pancras Old Church and public appeals modelled on the Foundling Hospital campaigns. Donations financed relief distributions, hiring of medical practitioners comparable to physicians at Guy's Hospital, and embarkation costs for emigration to Sierra Leone.
In 1787 the society organized an expedition transporting several hundred Black poor from London to found a settlement on the Sierra Leone coast. The project linked metropolitan philanthropists with colonial officials and naval officers, and intersected with other settlement schemes devised for Black Loyalists who had served under British Army command during the American Revolutionary War. The settlers faced disease, high mortality, logistical failures, and conflict with local polities such as the Temne people and trading interests represented by the Royal African Company successors. The expedition fed debates in Parliament of Great Britain and among abolitionists including Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp about the viability of colonization versus metropolitan integration.
Public response ranged from support among evangelical and abolitionist circles to hostility from newspapers, parish ratepayers, and xenophobic elements in London. Critics invoked fears articulated in writings in periodicals on Fleet Street and pamphlets by opponents of large-scale migration, while defenders emphasized humanitarian motives aligned with activists such as Granville Sharp and William Wilberforce. Controversies included accusations over mismanagement, clashes with parish authorities, and debates over the moral responsibilities of philanthropic elites versus statutory parish relief, involving legal references to cases like Somersett v. Stewart in public argumentation.
The society’s operations influenced subsequent colonial schemes and abolitionist strategies, feeding into later projects such as the Province of Sierra Leone (1787) continuations and the founding of Freetown. Its records and outcomes informed debates about resettlement of freed people, inspired philanthropic reforms seen in institutions like the School for the Indigent Blind and the Missionary Society, and shaped historical narratives addressed by historians of Atlantic history and the Black Loyalists. The 1787 expedition stands as a contested episode in British imperial and abolitionist history, linking metropolitan charity, transatlantic migration, and colonial enterprise.
Category:1786 establishments in Great Britain Category:Charities based in London Category:History of Sierra Leone