New sculpture of first black man to vote in British election to be unveiled
A new sculpture honouring the first black man to vote in a British election is about to be unveiled.
Councillor Dominic Mbang, Mayor of Greenwich, will unveil the new sculpture of Ignatius Sancho, in colour, on the wall of Greenwich Park on the morning of July 1.
Mr Sancho was a British abolitionist, writer and composer. Born on a slave ship in the Atlantic, he was sold into slavery in the Spanish colony of New Granada.
After his parents died, Mr Sancho was brought to Britain to a household in Greenwich.
John, second Duke of Montagu, lived nearby and helped with Mr Sancho’s education. After the duke passed away, Mr Sancho served his widow as a butler and then worked for his son-in-law.
In 1758 he married Anne Osborne and in 1773 Mr Sancho and his wife began a grocer’s shop in Westminster.
Because of his financially-independent householder status, Mr Sancho was eligible to vote and, in 1774, became the first black person to vote in parliamentary elections in Britain.
The statue will be a new attraction for Greenwich Park, helping make up for the lack of public recognition for black and ethnic minority people across the London area.
The event will be introduced by the Rt Hon Lord Boateng, chairman of the Ignatius Sancho memorial committee, chancellor of the University of Greenwich, and Britain’s first black cabinet minister.
The ceremony is open to the public and will start at 10.45am. Musicians from Blackheath and Peckham will play a short selection of Mr Sancho’s music, followed by a welcome at 11am by Lord Boateng.
The statue, made by the sculptor Christy Symington, is based on a portrait of Mr Sancho by Thomas Gainsborough, now in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.
Lord Boateng said: “Mr Sancho was a multi-talented trailblazer, whose achievements and engagement with the struggle for emancipation not only deserve better recognition but remain a source of continuing inspiration.
“We are all of us, whatever our ethnicity, the beneficiaries today of his courage and resilience.”
Pictured top: Painting of Ignatius Sancho (Picture:
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