Editing Covent Garden (section)

== An Historically Diverse Community ==


London newspaper adverts printed in the 17th and 18th century confirm the presence of free and unfree men, women and children of African and Asian heritage living and working in the area.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Newman |first=Simon |url=https://doi.org/10.14296/202202.9781912702947 |title=Freedom Seekers: Escaping from Slavery in Restoration London |date=2022-02-01 |publisher=University of London |isbn=978-1-912702-94-7}}</ref> Like Sarah, a young enslaved woman of colour who ran away from a Mary Vernon, at Fishers Warehouse in Tavistock Street, Covent Garden in 1746.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Runaways :: Management - Display Record |url=https://www.runaways.gla.ac.uk/database/display/?rid=593 |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=www.runaways.gla.ac.uk}}</ref>

<blockquote>RUN away from her Mistress on Saturday Morning last...Sarah, but is suppos’d to have been lately christen’d; she is about twenty Years of Age, short and thick, has one of her little Fingers bent inwards, and is mark’d on the Right Shoulder with the Letters IV, speaks pretty good English, and took away with her a white Linnen Gown, a blue and white Linnen Gown, and a brown Stuff Gown, '''of her own Apparel:''' Whoever will bring her to her Mistress, Mary Vernon, at Fisher’s Warehouse in Tavistock-Street, Covent-Garden, shall have Five Guineas Reward; or who yet will give Notice where she may be found, shall have  Guinea for their Trouble; and if she will voluntarily return to her Mistress, she shall be kindly receiv’d, and all her Faults forgiven; but whoever shall harbour or entertain her after the Publication thereof, will be prosecuted to the Rigour of the Law.</blockquote>

Mary Vernon is believed to be the daughter of James Vernon Senior (whose wife was also called Mary) who was clerk to the supreme court of Jamaica.<ref>{{Cite web |title=VERNON, James I (1646-1727), of Frith Street, Westminster, Mdx. {{!}} History of Parliament Online |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/vernon-james-i-1646-1727 |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org}}</ref> Mary was, therefore, the sister of James Vernon Junior, and [[Admiral Edward Vernon]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Newman |first=Simon P |date=October 2019 |title=Freedom-Seeking Slaves in England and Scotland, 1700–1780 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cez292 |journal=The English Historical Review |volume=134 |issue=570 |pages=1136–1168 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cez292 |issn=0013-8266}}</ref> who coined the term ‘grog’ and sailed a fleet to Jamaica in July 1739.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 2023 |title=Filippo Argelati to Lodovico Antonio Muratori, Tuesday, 14 July 1739 [muraloLO0030552a1c] |url=https://doi.org/10.13051/ee:doc/muralolo0030552a1c |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=Electronic Enlightenment Scholarly Edition of Correspondence}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=VERNON Admiral Edward Verno - Genealogy.com |url=https://www.genealogy.com/forum/regional/countries/topics/jamaica/1136/ |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=www.genealogy.com}}</ref> Admiral Vernon would have been tended to by enslaved domestic servants like Sarah when in Jamaica, and it was relatively common for Royal Navy commanders to bring these individuals to Britain when they returned, often gifting unfree women and girls to their mothers, wives and daughters.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Walker |first=Christine |url=https://doi.org/10.5149/northcarolina/9781469658797.001.0001 |title=Jamaica Ladies |date=2020-06-08 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-1-4696-5879-7}}</ref> The initials I and V branded on Sarah’s shoulders could indicate that she had belonged to a Vernon in Jamaica before coming to Britain. There were a number of plantation owners in Jamaica of the same name who were related to the Vernons of Westminster.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Details of Estate {{!}} Legacies of British Slavery |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/estate/view/224 |access-date=2025-02-11 |website=www.ucl.ac.uk}}</ref>