Samuel Samo was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

slave trader who was the first person to be prosecuted under the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Slave Trade Felony Act 1811. Samuel Samo was the uncle of John Samo, a Dutch shopkeeper who served as King's Advocate and Member of His Majesty's Colonial Council of Sierra Leone. Samo was also a colleague of William Henry Leigh. On one voyage, 500 Africans died. Samo was based in the

Îles de Los Îles de Los are an island group lying off Conakry in Guinea, on the west coast of Africa. Their name is derived from the Portuguese: ''Ilhas dos Ídolos'', "Islands of the Idols". They are located about off the headland limiting the southern ...

, a group of islands of Conakry in modern-day Guinea. He was seized along with Charles Hickson from there in early 1812 and taken 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 po ...

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 , Sierr ...

to be put on trial. The trial was held under the auspices of the

Vice admiralty court Vice Admiralty Courts were juryless courts located in British colonies that were granted jurisdiction over local legal matters related to maritime activities, such as disputes between merchants and seamen. American Colonies American maritime ac ...

. Robert Thorpe (judge), Robert Thorpe was the presiding judge. Samo was charged with five counts of slave-trading between August 1811 and January 1812. Samo was convicted but given a royal pardon by Governor Charles William Maxwell. The convict was enjoined to never again engage in slave trading. Two other slave traders were convicted in Sierra Leone between April and June 1812. William Tufft was sentenced to three years of hard labour, and Joseph Peters was sentenced to 7 years of

transportation Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, ...

References

{{crime-bio-stub Dutch slave traders Dutch mass murderers 19th-century Dutch businesspeople Dutch people imprisoned abroad Recipients of British royal pardons Prisoners and detainees of the United Kingdom