Slavery in Scotland

I have mentioned the ex-slave village, Pniel, near Cpae Town but I came across an interesting story closer to home in Neil Oliver’s A History of Scotland. It starts in the Caribbean with a Scottish sugar plater called Wedderburn, an unusual name in Scotland. In 1762, Wedderburn attended a slave sale and bought a young lad called Joseph Knight. Something about Knight made Wedderburn educate the lad, make him a house servant and treated him much like a son. In 1769, when Knight was a young man, Wedderburn decided to take a trip back to his Scottish roots in Perthshire in order to reclaim the baronetcy lost by his father in fighting for Bonny Prince Charlie. Knight and a local girl Annie Thompson formed a liaison and Wedderburn allowed them to marry. Knight then decided to ask his master to be paid for his years of service and Wedderburn refused. Wedderburn decided to return to his sugar estate and ordered Knight to go with him. Knight refused and appealed to the courts. When the Perthshire justice found in Knight’s favour, Wedderburn took the case to the Court of Session in Edinburgh. In a landmark decision the Court of Session ruled that Knights slave status did not extend to Scotland and he was as free as any other resident. According to Neil Oliver, nothing more is recorded of Knight’s life but the story has all the elements of a great human story.

Betrayal of Bonnie Prince Charlie