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Looking West

In the 16th and 17th centuries, England was at war with the Spanish because of religious and commercial differences, and then with the Dutch because of rivalry in trade. However, these wars did not cause much migration to or from England.

England’s wars in the late 17th and early 18th centuries against the French were usually disputes over colonial possessions.

In the mid-18th century, Britain’s American colonists decided that they were not prepared to be ruled by the British Government at Westminster any longer. The war that followed has been called the American War of Independence or the War of the American Revolution. Some of the colonists remained loyal to Britain throughout.

In addition, there were a number of former African-American slaves who had secured their freedom from their plantation slave owners by fighting for the British army. When the British lost the war in 1783, these black loyalists had to find themselves a new life overseas, because the new American government would have forced them back into slavery.

Initially the black loyalists were sent to Canada, the Caribbean and London. In London there was concern about the welfare of these men and women, and an organisation called the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor was set up in London in 1786. There were several hundred black people in London, mostly men. Many Londoners tried to look after the black loyalists, including politician William Pitt and businessman John Julius Angerstein, mainly because of their loyal service throughout the war.

As well as organising relief for the men, the Committee helped to set up a new British territory in West Africa as a refuge and new nation for these black men and their families in 1787; it was called Sierra Leone. Around 300 black men and some women left for Sierra Leone that year.