Editing Sarah Forbes Bonetta (section)

=== Queen Victoria ===
Captain Forbes renamed her Sarah Forbes Bonetta, after himself and his ship HMS ''Bonetta''. Forbes initially intended to raise her himself. However, Sarah was later taken to meet Queen Victoria and she told her majesty about her horrible life, that for a couple of years she was kept in a small cage next to other unfortunate prisoners who she watched from time to time be taken out and slaughtered in rituals of the King of Dahomey. Her jailers often taunted her with the truth that she was being saved for ceremonial purposes too, and when it suited him, King Gezo intended to sacrifice her as a gift to his royal ancestors' tomb.<ref name=":0"/>

Queen Victoria was touched by her story and she requested that Sarah have her photo taken after their visit, Sarah was taken to the English-based studio of American photographer John J. Mayall. Sarah was afraid of the photographer because she had no idea what he intended. When she noticed a portrait of a man with a sword hanging on the wall, her fear turned into panic. She yelled, "Cut head off!" as she quickly ran her hand down her narrow throat. "Cut head off!" Sarah knew from her years in captivity that swords were meant for head cuts. It was necessary to reassure the trembling girl that the man brandishing the sword was not real and would not hurt her.<ref name=":0"/>

Queen Victoria was impressed by the young princess's "exceptional intelligence", and had the girl, whom she called Sally,<ref name="queen" /> raised as her [[goddaughter]] in the British middle class.<ref name="queen">{{Cite book
 | title = Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion
 | last = Rappaport | first = Helen | author-link = Helen Rappaport 
 | year = 2003
 | publisher = ABC-CLIO Biographical Companions
 | page = 307
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NLGhimIiFPoC&pg=PA307
 | isbn = 9781851093557
}}</ref><ref name="history">{{Cite book
 | title = A History of Modern Britain: 1714 to the Present
 | last = Wasson | first = Ellis
 | year = 2009
 | publisher = John Wiley & Sons
 | page = 235
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=J5spbTRMfo8C&pg=PA235
 | isbn = 9781405139359
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
 | title = Black Victorians: Black People in British Art 1800–1900
 | last = Marsh
 | first = Jan | author-link = Jan Marsh
 | publisher = Lund Humphries, University of Michigan
 | pages = 62, 86
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HSLqAAAAMAAJ&q=Sarah+Forbes+Bonetta
 | date = 19 November 2009
 | isbn = 9780853319306
 | access-date = 25 November 2016
 | archive-date = 23 April 2022
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220423003542/https://books.google.com/books?id=HSLqAAAAMAAJ&q=Sarah+Forbes+Bonetta
 | url-status = live
 }}</ref> In 1851, Sarah developed a chronic cough, which was attributed to the climate of Great Britain. Her guardians sent her to school in Africa in May of that year, when she was aged eight.<ref name="queen" />  She attended the [[Annie Walsh Memorial School]] (AWMS) in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The school was founded by the [[Church Missionary Society]] (CMS) in January 1849 as an institution for young women and girls who were relatives of the boys in the [[Sierra Leone Grammar School]] founded in 1845 (at first named CMS Grammar School). In the school register, her name appears only as Sally Bonetta, pupil number 24, June 1851, who married Captain Davies in England in 1862 and was the ward of Queen Victoria. She returned to England in 1855, when she was 12. She was entrusted to the care of Rev. [[James Schön|Frederick Scheon]] and his wife Elizabeth,<ref>[https://blackpresence.co.uk/sarah-forbes-bonetta/ Black Presence website, ''Sarah Forbes Bonetta'']</ref> who lived at Palm Cottage, Canterbury Street [[Gillingham, Kent|Gillingham]]. The house survives.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jordan |first1=Nicola |title=Queen Victoria adopted my great-great grandma |url=https://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/victoria-adopted-my-great-great-grandma-104132/ |access-date=6 October 2020 |work=Kent Online |date=16 October 2016 |language=en |archive-date=29 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180529000931/http://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/victoria-adopted-my-great-great-grandma-104132/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In January 1862, she was invited to and attended the wedding of Queen Victoria's daughter [[Princess Alice of the United Kingdom|Princess Alice]].<ref>{{cite web |work=Church Missionary Quarterly Token |number=101 |page=6 |title=Queen Victoria's African Protégée |publisher=Church Missionary Society |via=Google Books |year=1881 |first=Annie C. |last=Higgen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xi8EAAAAQAAJ&q=%22Church%20Missionary%20Quarterly%20Token%22&pg=PP76 |access-date=10 October 2020 |archive-date=19 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230919204936/https://books.google.com/books?id=xi8EAAAAQAAJ&q=%22Church%20Missionary%20Quarterly%20Token%22&pg=PP76 |url-status=live }}</ref>