Charles Ignatius Sancho honoured with St Margaret’s memorial
Tuesday, 19th December 2023
Charles Ignatius Sancho, who escaped from a background of slavery and rose to distinction in Georgian London, has been honoured with a new memorial in St Margaret's Church, Westminster Abbey.
Sancho (1729 - 1780) is honoured alongside his wife, Ann Osborne, in the church where they married and where their eight children were baptised.
A remarkable life
Sancho was born on a slave ship in 1729, en route from Guinea to the Spanish West Indies. When he was about two years old he was taken to England, to a household in Greenwich. John, 2nd Duke of Montagu, lived nearby and helped his education.
Sancho published letters, plays and musical compositions, and ran a grocery shop near to the Houses of Parliament. Thomas Gainsborough painted his portrait and he knew many members of the nobility and famous people of the day, such as actor David Garrick. Sancho married his wife, Ann, who was also of African descent, in St Margaret's Church on 17th December 1758.
Among his many achievements, Sancho campaigned for the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. He is the first man of African descent thought to have voted in a British election, and to have an obituary published in the national newspapers. He died in December 1780 and was buried in the parish of St Margaret’s.
Memorial dedication
The new memorial was dedicated in St Margaret’s on Tuesday 19th December at a service led by the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle.
Arthur Torrington, co-founder of The Equiano Society, gave the opening remarks and asked the Dean to take the memorial into the safe custody of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster.
Paterson Joseph, actor and author of The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho read a letter by Sancho.
The Right Reverend Rosemarie Mallett, Area Bishop of Croydon, gave the address.
Temi Olusola, Head of Human Resources at Westminster Abbey, read Isaiah 58: 5-10; and prayers were said by the Reverend Mark Birch, Precentor, and by Burt Caesar.
The service was sung by the Choristers of St Margaret's Church, directed by Greg Morris, Director of Music.
Arthur Torrington unveils the new memorial to Ignatius Sancho and Anne Osborne
About the memorial
The memorial, on the north east wall of St Margaret’s, is the initiative of The Equiano Society, which celebrates the life and work of Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797) and the achievements of his contemporaries.
Made from Portland stone, the memorial has been carved by sculptor Marcia Bennett-Male at her studio in Woolwich and is inscribed with the words:
Ignatius Sancho
1729 – 1780
African, abolitionist and polymath married Ann Osborne in this church 17 December 1758
‘Use your endeavour to be a good man and leave the rest to God’
