The Black Vote. Charles Ignatius Sancho.The first black voter in the U.K.

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Charles Ignatius Sancho

Who knows about Ignatius Sancho

He was born on a slave ship and was brought to England by his owner as an orphan, where he worked as a butler.

However, the man for whom he worked saw how clever he was and supported his creativity. Sancho wrote plays, poetry and music, and eventually ended up setting up his own shop in London, where other creative people like him could meet up.
He used his ability to read and write to speak out against the slave trade too .
Aside from his creativity, he is also the first known black British voter.

Shopkeeper, writer, musician. Ignatius Sancho was a man of many talents and Britain's first Black voter.

The franchise in British parliamentary elections has evolved slowly over the years. Before the Peterloo Massacre and the first Reform Act of 1832, the percentage of the adult population entitled to vote in national elections was probably around 5%. The 1832 Act marked the first step forward in widening the franchise but it was modest. In towns, for example, only adult males owning or occupying property valued at or over £10 per annum were entitled to vote.

Further reforms were enacted in 1867 and 1884 but still fell well short of universal suffrage, which the more radical campaigners had been campaigning for since the late 18th century. Universal male suffrage (for men over the age of 21) was achieved only in 1918. Women over the age of 30 were admitted to vote at the same time. True universal adult suffrage did not arrive until 1928 when men and women acquired parity and all adults aged 21 and over became entitled to vote.

In this context, it is clear that the first Black British voter in parliamentary elections would be a male, over the age of 21, presumably with a secure income and living in a comfortable town property. Given the small proportion of people entitled to vote and the modest size of the Black population, you might think that no such Black voter would have existed until the late 19th century or beyond. But you'd be wrong. In fact, it seems that the first known Black British voter in parliamentary elections was casting his vote in the latter half of the 18th century, even before the French Revolution had inspired UK radicals to call for parliamentary and electoral reforms. So who was he?

Charles Ignatius Sancho

A grocer by trade, Charles Ignatius Sancho was much more than a shopkeeper. But it is from his occupation as a shopkeeper, with a steady income and financial independence, that he derived his entitlement to vote.

In closing we do hope you voted, and if you did? It adds to the small drops of progress, which can create the puddles that create rivers of change and inturn waves of equality for all.