Locating Sancho through Westminster: A Topographical Reading of The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African

Year 2020, Volume: 14 Issue: 1, 112 - 125, 25.06.2020

Banjo Olaleye

Abstract

A topographical reading of Ignatius Sancho’s letters, especially as it relates to his detailed account of the Gordon riots of 1780, remains a gap in Sancho’s studies. Most of the earlier studies have only mentioned his account of the riots briefly. His account of the riots spans across four letters addressed to banker John Spink, which have all been, along with several other letters he wrote, posthumously published in the collection, Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African. As part of my discussion, I will show how a mapping of the spaces described in Sancho’s Letters reveals the unlikelihood of his account being solely eyewitness. Here, however, I aim to follow Sancho’s movement through the disrupted spaces where the riots took place and examine his reactions to these spaces. My conclusion here is that Sancho associates with the largely unscathed spaces of Westminster, where he lived, an indication of the social wellness of the area, and himself.

Keywords

Space, 18th Century London, Identity, Topography, Blacks

References

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