Memorial To Scipio Africanus 10 Metres North West Of South Porch Of Church Of St Mary

Memorial to Scipio Africanus, Church Close, Henbury

This is the tomb of Scipio Africanus, located approximately 10 metres north-west of the south porch of the church of St Mary. The monument comprises a headstone and footstone, both dated 1720, executed in painted Pennant stone with shaped tops. The stonework was recently re-painted in 2007.

The headstone features a painted circular tablet containing an incised inscription, surrounded by carved relief decorations. Above the tablet are the winged faces of two black cherubs separated by a flower, with additional flowers to the sides and two skulls below. The inscription reads: "HERE / Lieth the Body of / SCIPIO AFRICANUS / Negro Servant to ye Right / Honourable Charles William / Earl of Suffolk and Bradon / who died ye 21st December / 1720 Aged 18 Years".

The footstone carries an apron-shaped painted tablet with a single cherub surrounded by flowers above. Its inscription reads: "I who was Born a PAGAN and a SLAVE / Now Sweetly Sleep a CHRISTIAN in my Grave / What tho' my hue was dark my SAViORS sight / Shall Change this darkness into radiant Light / Such grace to me my Lord on earth has given / To recommend me to my Lord in Heaven / Whose glorious second coming here I wait / With saints and Angels Him to celebrate".

Scipio Africanus was born around 1702 and died on 12 December 1720, aged 18. He was servant to Charles William Howard, 7th Earl of Suffolk and 2nd Earl of Bindon, who had married Arabella Astry in 1715 and inherited his titles in 1718. The Earl and his wife are believed to have lived at the Great House at Henbury, which had been built by Arabella's mother's family, the Morses, in the late seventeenth century. Howard also owned Audley End in Essex, where he served as Lord-Lieutenant. The Earl died in February 1722, only two months after Scipio, aged just 29; his wife died four months later.

How and when Scipio Africanus entered the Earl's service is unknown. Neither the Howard family nor that of his wife is recorded as having interests in the West Indies or America. Many Bristol merchants engaged in the slave trade, and Scipio may have arrived in Henbury through a local connection. The inscription's reference to him being "born a pagan and a slave" suggests he began life enslaved in the colonies, possibly transported from Africa at a young age. If he spent time on a plantation, he was likely chosen for domestic rather than field labour, indicating he was a favoured slave. His early death and the unusually rich and inventive design of his tomb, combined with its poetic inscription, demonstrate that he had won considerable favour from the Earl of Suffolk.

The footstone verse makes clear that Scipio Africanus had been baptised. It was commonly believed in this period that baptism freed slaves from bondage, and the verse equates the condition of paganism with slavery whilst Christianity brings salvation both earthly and heavenly. There is no other evidence of his legal freedom; his name does not appear in parish registers.

The name "Scipio Africanus" was given to the boy by the Earl or by a previous owner. Names of Roman origin were frequently bestowed on enslaved people. The original Scipio Africanus (236-184 BC) was a great general of antiquity, earning the epithet "Africanus" after defeating Hannibal at Carthage. Polybius's account suggests that captured Carthaginians might earn freedom by showing goodwill to their conquerors, a concept that may have influenced the choice of name.

Very little is known about the lives of individual enslaved people brought to England. Graves represent one of the few tangible forms of evidence regarding slavery in England, and such marked graves are rare; the vast majority of enslaved people died without trace. This memorial is particularly valuable as evidence, suggesting that fine monuments occasionally commissioned for black servants indicate that such people might occupy special places in their employers' regard. The quality of this tomb provides important evidence for understanding the complex and obscured early history of black people in England.

The churchyard of St Mary, set above the main road and approached by a narrow lane, retains the sense of isolation that would have characterised the village of Henbury before Bristol's suburbs reached it. The church itself is Grade II*. The churchyard contains four other listed tombs and a listed mortuary chapel of circa 1830, with all churchyard walls, railings and gates also listed.