Anna Maria (Horwood) Falconbridge (1769-1835), was the first

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

woman to give a narrative account of experiences in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. She was born in All Saints Lane

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1769. Her father Charles was a local clock maker. After her parents’ death, she married

Alexander Falconbridge Alexander Falconbridge (c. 1760–1792) was a British surgeon who took part in four voyages in slave ships between 1782 and 1787. In time he became an abolitionist and in 1788 published ''An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa''. In ...

surgeon and slave ship surgeon turned

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

on 16 October 1788 aged 19, in

Easton in Gordano Easton in Gordano () is a village in Somerset, England, about northwest of Bristol city centre. It is part of the civil parish of Pill and Easton-in-Gordano and within the unitary authority of North Somerset. In 2011 the population of the pari ...

, against her family's and friends' wishes. After their marriage Anna Maria accompanied her husband to

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

twice. Once there she “described her experiences in a series of lively, informative letters”.¹ Later she had the letters published. In her work ''Narrative of Two Voyages'' she defends the slave trade and ridicules her abolitionist-supporting dead husband.note 625
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Visits to Africa

During Anna Maria's first trip to Africa, she visited a slave-trading fort, Bance Island, in the

Sierra Leone River The Sierra Leone River is a river estuary on the Atlantic Ocean in Western Sierra Leone. It is formed by the Bankasoka River and Rokel River and is between 4 and 10 miles wide (6–16 km) and 25 miles (40 km) long. It holds the major port ...

. It would seem that Anna Maria, came from a family that took part in the

slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

but she was originally sympathetic to the plight of the slaves. Dr Alexander had made 4 slaving voyages as ships' surgeon but became increasingly opposed to the trade. He would not allow his wife to stay with the traders on Bance Island but insisted she live on a small boat, although Anna Maria accompanied Mr. Falconbridge on some of his visits to the main land. “During her stay Anna Maria observed all she could of the country and its people, their customs, religion, and economy, and wrote about what she saw.”² On Anna Maria's second trip to

she travelled with people who had been sent to form a colony by bringing freed

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

to the settlement. Falconbridge was appointed commercial agent, leaving his small medical practice for the good salary offered by the Sierra Leone Company (SLC). The settlement was named Freetown. “More than a thousand settlers”³ came to

Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...

, arriving at the start of the rainy season. Hundreds died because there was no shelter for them when they arrived, but Anna Maria kept her health and continued to write, becoming ill for just a short time. Her husband was dismissed by the directors of the Sierra Leone Company just hours before his death, and while his excessive drinking was used as an excuse it would seem that he and others dismissed by the company were used as scapegoats. Other dismissals included Charles Horwood - brother of Anna Maria, and her second husband Isaac DuBois. Alexander died on 19 December 1792 and is believed to be buried in the area of Freetown; the place was not recorded. His brother William who had accompanied them on the last voyage had died the previous year of "fever" contracted on Bance Island and is most likely buried there also. Falcon Bridge Point was named for Dr Alexander Falconbridge.

Later life

After her husband's death Anna Maria returned to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. (She remarried on 7 January 1793 in Freetown, Sierra Leone within a few weeks of Alexander's death, to Isaac DuBois also an employee of the S.L. Coy.) Once in London Anna Maria demanded from the directors of the Sierra Leone Company money she claimed was owed to her late husband. The company denied her claims (paperwork was conveniently lost). Anna Maria published letters denouncing the company. “Three editions of her Narrative o
Two Voyages to the River Sierra Leone during the Years 1791–1792–1793
appeared during 1794 and 1795”. ⁴ The letters that Anna Maria wrote were not originally made to be published. The original purpose of them seems to be for her own personal records of what happened in her travels. Anna Maria and Isaac DuBois had one son Francis Blake DuBois, born 1801 England (named for Colonel Francis Blake of the Northumberland Fencible Infantry). The family eventually moved to the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Croix ...

where their descendants remain to this day. Anna Maria died on 7 July 1835, New York, United States of America.

Citations

1. Christopher Fyfe, “Falconbridge, Anna Maria (b. 1769, d. in or after 1802?),” in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online ed., ed. Lawrence Goldman, Oxford: OUP, http://0-www.oxforddnb.com.library.svsu.edu/view/article/9105 2. Bivb 3. Bibv 4. Bibv

External sources

Narrative of Two Voyages to the River Sierra Leone, During the Years 1791-1792-1793
(Full text, partial free access)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falconbridge African slave trade English non-fiction writers 1769 births 1835 deaths British letter writers 18th-century English women writers