Fascinating case revealed in newly digitised Court of Session papers
Reading time: 2 minutes
The 1781 case of a former slave who found himself in a legal dispute is among newly digitised Court of Session papers, The Herald reports.
“Having endured the horror of enslavement working on board merchant vessels between Greenock and the West Indies, James Graham’s fortunes appeared to have taken a turn for the better.
“It was December 1781 and, no longer an enslaved man, he was finally free with a job as an apprentice for one of Glasgow’s busy carpet weaving companies.
“The Royal Navy of the day, however, desperately needed men. And James Graham would find out that it particularly needed men with extensive seafaring experience, regardless of whether it was gained while they suffered the indignity and distress of enslavement.
“As newly digitised Scottish Court of Session papers show, before long James would be at the centre of a bitter legal dispute involving the highest civil court in the country, with his future as a free man to do as he pleased, at stake.
“The case between Lieutenant William Stewart of the Impress Service at Greenock and James Graham, described in the papers as ‘a negro, residing in Glasgow, who had been born into the business of a seaman’ has been uncovered as part of a cross-Atlantic project to unravel thousands of legal documents.”
Share this article:
Subscribe to our newsletter to not miss articles like this one:
SUBSCRIBE
