Samuel Samo | |
|---|---|
| Conviction(s) | feloniously dealing in slaves under the Slave Trade Felony Act 1811 |
| Criminal penalty | pardoned |
Samuel Samo ( fl. 1811–1812) was a Dutch slave trader who was the first person to be prosecuted under the British Slave Trade Felony Act 1811. [1]
Samuel Samo was the uncle of John Samo, a Dutch shopkeeper who served as King's Advocate and Member of His Majesty's Colonial Council of Sierra Leone. Samo was also a colleague of William Henry Leigh. On one voyage, 500 Africans died. [2] [3]
Samo was based in the Îles de Los, a group of islands of Conakry in modern-day Guinea. [4] He was seized along with Charles Hickson from there in early 1812 and taken to Freetown, Sierra Leone to be put on trial. [4]
The trial was held under the auspices of the Vice admiralty court in Sierra Leone. [1] Robert Thorpe was the presiding judge. [3] Samo was charged with five counts of slave-trading between August 1811 and January 1812. [1] Samo was convicted but given a royal pardon by Governor Charles William Maxwell. [3] The convict was enjoined to never again engage in slave trading. [3] Two other slave traders were convicted in Sierra Leone between April and June 1812. William Tufft was sentenced to three years of hard labour, and Joseph Peters was sentenced to 7 years of transportation.
See also
References
- ^ a b c Haslam, Emily (2012). "Redemption, Colonialism and International Criminal Law". In Kirkby, Diane (ed.). Past law, present histories. Canberra, Acton, A.C.T.: ANU E Press. ISBN 9781922144034.
- ^ Swartz, B.K. (1980). West African Culture Dynamics: Archaeological and Historical Perspectives. United States: Walter de Gruyter.
- ^ a b c d . 1813 – via Wikisource.
- ^ a b Schafer, Daniel l. (2003). Heuman, Gad J.; Walvin, James (eds.). The Slavery Reader, Volume 1. London: Routledge.
 | This article about a person from the Netherlands is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This biographical article related to crime is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |