There is much we know about the life of George Africanus - at first glance his story can seem quite a typical story: a young man arriving in a city to make his fortune; working at his trade; getting married and having children; buying a house; setting up a family business; voting in elections and taking his place as a respectable member of the community. In many ways though, George was not a typical man of his times; the archive items connected with this topic have been chosen to frame George's story and highlight those areas of his life that are still a mystery...

As far as we know, George arrived from Sierra Leone at the age of 3, a household slave to the Molyneux family of Wolverhampton; the family provided for George's education and his training as a brassfounder. Little is known of George's connections to Nottingham or how he arrived in the city as free man in the 1780s. We do know however that he eventually bought property on Chandler's Lane (Cover of Conveyance (title deed), 1829), at that time situated close to Nottingham Market Place, behind The Exchange, the official offices of the Corporation.

Africanus married a local woman, Esther Shaw,in 1788. Further records show that the couple had 7 children, although many died in infancy, and that by the time of his death in 1834 George had established himself as property owner, able to leave his goods to his daughter, Hannah Cropper, in a very conditional Last Will and Testament.

Items held by Nottingham Archives also tell the story of George as an active and 'responsible' citizen of Nottingham. Britain in the late 18th and early 19th centuries witnessed much upheaval as the country grappled with war, economic downturn, food shortages, social unrest, rebellious colonies and angry slaves. Nottinghamshire was a centre of Luddite agitation in the early part of the 1800s, and frame-breakers were active throughout the County as technological advancement progressed and livlihoods were threatened. George Africanus had neighbours who owned several knitting frames - the trustees of his will were framework knitters and businessmen - and as a member of the property-owning class volunteered for duty as a 'special constable', adding his name to the City's Watch and Ward Register in 1816.

Poll books of the time also confirm that George exercised his right as a freeholder to vote in General Elections. In 1826, before the advent of secret ballots, George voted for John Smith Wright of Rempstone in Nottinghamshire. The Nottingham Poll Book for the year records George's vote and the fact that slavery was a leading issue in the election, although we have no record of Africanus' attitude to the continued existence of slavery or any other political controversies of the day.

George Africanus was buried at St Mary's church in Nottingham; in recent years a plaque has been erected on the railings at St. Mary's to mark the resting place of 'Nottingham's First Black Entrepreneur'. George left some unusual conditions in his will, the terms of which can be investigated further in 'Teachers' Notes', above.

What we know about George has been built up by many years of patient research by many individuals. Yet, as we've said, there are still many important questions unanswered:

• What did George look like? We don't know.
• What did he think of Nottingham? We don't know.
• Did George suffer racism and prejudice from his neighbours? We don't know.
• Was George a member of a Afro-Caribbean community in Nottingham? Was he active in the anti-slavery campaigns of the day? We don't know.
  

The learning activities for this topic are designed to encourage students to make a judgement about the usefulness of archive items for exploring historical characters and themes. In the course of their historical enquiry, students will also have to interpret documents, images and official records in their quest for understanding.