Thomas Canry Caulker was the Sherbro

Sherbro people

The Sherbro people are a native people of Sierra Leone, who speak the Sherbro language; they make up 3% of Sierra Leone's population or about 201,000. They are also known as the Bullom people...

-born son of the King of Bompey (a traditional state that became incorporated into Sierra Leone in 1888 and is today part of the Moyamba District

Moyamba District

Moyamba District is a district in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone with a population of 260,910 in the 2004 census. Its capital and largest city is Moyamba. The other major towns include Njala, Rotifunk and Shenge...

). He is an early example, predating the formal proclamation of the Sierra Leone Protectorate, of a West African arriving in England for an education, to meet the rising international demands on traditional states for government and commerce, and illustrating the growth in influence of evangelical Christianity in the region, introduced largely by American Africans abolitionists

Abolitionism

Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...

.

Family background

The family was one of the most powerful chiefdoms in the Sherbro region and had been one of the most notorious slave traders during the commercialisation of the trade with the West Indies and America during the 18th century. By the time of Thomas Caulker's birth, the dynasty was aligned with the 19th century abolition movement, and an agreement was being forged between his father, 'Careybah Caulker', Chief of Bompey, together with some other chiefs of the Sherbro country (including his relative, Thomas Stephen Caulker, Chief of the Plantain Islands), to suppress the slave trade. This agreement was finalised with the Governor of the British colony of Sierre Leone in 1853, and enacted into British law two years later by an Act of Parliament dated 14 August 1855. This allowed the British navy to intercept on the high seas any suspect slave trading vessels originating from or belonging to, inhabitants of Bompey, and the other Sherbro signatories.

See also: Sherbro Caulkers

Sherbro Caulkers

The Caulkers of Sherbro are an Afro-European Sherbro clan of the region of Southern Sierra Leone and they ruled as chiefs in Shenge and Bonthe. In the 18th century the Caulkers began to get involved in the slave trade and became more powerful than the white slave traders...

Travel for education in London

In the early 1850s Thomas Caulker was sent by his father, Canrah Bah Caulker, King of Bompey (syn: Bumpe), to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, for a Christian education in the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion

Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion

The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion is a small society of evangelical churches, founded in 1783 by Selina, Countess of Huntingdon as a result of the Evangelical Revival. For years it was strongly associated with the Calvinist Methodist movement of George Whitefield...

 pioneered in the eighteenth century by the evangelical Selina Hastings, and for his health. It was quite common among the Caulker family and among other Afro-European families to send their children over to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 for an education. He lived with the Rev. J. K. Foster and his wife (Foster had formerly been a president of Cheshunt College, closely associated with the Methodist-leaning Connection).

Though very young, Thomas suffered from weakness of the eyes, which increased almost to blindness. He was sent to a school for the blind, but he was also afflicted by other medical problems and his health failed. He died at Canonbury in Islington

Islington

Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...

 while in the care of the Rev. Kirkman Foster, in 1859 aged only 13 and was buried at the non-denominational garden cemetery, Abney Park Cemetery

Abney Park Cemetery

Abney Park in Stoke Newington, in the London Borough of Hackney, is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney and Dr. Isaac Watts, and the neighbouring Hartopp family. In 1840 it became a non-denominational garden cemetery, semi-public park arboretum, and...

 in Stoke Newington

Stoke Newington

Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...

. Here too, the Rev. Kirkman Foster and his wife were later interred.

Thomas' headstone read:

THOMAS CANRY CAULKER,

A native of Western Africa,

Son of

Canrah Bah Caulker,

King of Bompey

The Caulker Dynasty

The Bompey (syn. Bumpe) Kingdom was ruled by the Caulker dynasty throughout much of the nineteenth century, a period of considerable economic and political change:

1820-1832: Thomas Caulker

1832-1842: Charles Caulker

1842-1857: Canray Ba (Canreba)

1857-1864; Thomas Theophilus Caulker

1864-1888: Richard Canreba Caulker

1888-1895: vacant

1895-1898: R.C.Caulker (2nd period)

1898-1901: vacant

1901-19??: James Canreba Caulker

Prior to this, the Caulker dynasty came from the Banana Islands

Banana Islands

The Banana Islands lie south west of the Freetown Peninsula in Sierra Leone. The two main islands, Dublin Island and Ricketts Island, are linked by a causeway. Dublin Island is known for its beaches while Ricketts Island is best known for its forests...

; a nearby traditional state or kingdom, from where they removed in 1820 upon incorporation of that kingdom into Sierra Leone.

Sources

• French, James (1883). Walks in Abney Park Cemetery. London:James Clarke
• Joyce, Paul (1984). Abney Park Cemetery. London:SAPC/Hackney Council
• Great Britain Parliament (1855) An Act for Carrying Into Effect the Engagements Between Her Majesty and Certain Chiefs of the Sherbro Country Near Sierra Leone in Africa, for the More Effectual Suppression of the Slave Trade, London: George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty
• Sanneh, Lamin (1999). Abolitionists Abroad: American blacks and the making of modern West Africa. London: Harvard Univ. Press (2nd edn Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press 2001)