Brief
New Biography Charts Sarah Forbes Bonetta’s Life as Queen Victoria’s Gifted Protégé
The biography traces Bonetta’s journey from a captured Yoruba child to a royal protégé and her later marriage.
By Felo News Desk · Published
British-Nigerian barrister Bayo Randle, the great‑great‑grandson of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, announced the publication of Becoming Sarah Forbes Bonetta: A Yorùbá Woman in Queen Victoria’s Court, a biography by Canadian academic Prof. Henry Lovejoy. The Guardian reported that the book follows Bonetta’s life from her capture in 1848 to her marriage to merchant James Pinson Labulo Davies.
What happened
Born around 1843 in Òkè‑Òdàn, south‑west Nigeria, Bonetta was originally called Àìná. After her family was killed in a 1848 attack by King Ghezo of Dahomey, she was captured by the all‑female regiment known as the agodjié and taken to Ghezo’s court. In 1850, Royal Navy officer Frederick Forbes traveled to Dahomey to negotiate an anti‑slavery treaty, failed, and asked Ghezo if he could bring the five‑year‑old girl to England. Forbes arrived in England with her, renamed her Sarah Forbes Bonetta, and petitioned for her to become “the property of the crown”, effectively indenturing her to Queen Victoria until age 19.
What the reports add
The Guardian notes that Victoria personally funded Bonetta’s education, approved her marriage to James Pinson Labulo Davies—one of West Africa’s wealthiest men—and acted as godmother to Bonetta’s eldest daughter. Lovejoy’s research, cited in the book, places Bonetta at the elite end of a post‑abolition bonded‑labour system that forced more than 700,000 Africans liberated from slavery into indentures of up to 14 years to pay for their own freedom. The book also records Bonetta’s own words about her marriage: “I don’t feel a particle of love for him.”
What was said
Randle told the Guardian, “I don’t think a human being, who has agency, could be ‘gifted’ from one to another, but had she not been gifted to Queen Victoria, would I be here today?”
How it came about
Lovejoy’s biography builds on his earlier research for the website liberatedafricans.org, developed with Kartikay Chadha, which documents the broader indenture system after the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. The new book adds a personal narrative to that scholarship, highlighting how Bonetta’s life intersected with Victorian royal interests and West African commerce.
Key facts
- Sarah Forbes Bonetta was presented to Queen Victoria in 1850 as a diplomatic gift. (theguardian.com)
- Frederick Forbes petitioned for Bonetta to become "property of the crown" and she was indentured until age 19. (theguardian.com)
- Bonetta married James Pinson Labulo Davies, a wealthy West African merchant, and expressed no love for him. (theguardian.com)
- The biography is written by Prof. Henry Lovejoy and announced by Bayo Randle, her great‑great‑grandson. (theguardian.com)
- More than 700,000 Africans liberated after abolition were forced into indentures of up to 14 years, according to Lovejoy’s research. (theguardian.com)
Sources
- [1] theguardian.com — originally reported as “An extraordinary life: descendant welcomes biography of woman ‘gifted’ to Queen Victoria”
