A recently published biography titled Becoming Sarah Forbes Bonetta: A Yorùbá Woman in Queen Victoria’s Court has prompted reflection on the complex life of an extraordinary historical figure. The subject, Sarah Forbes Bonetta, was brought to England at age seven after being captured during an attack on her hometown in Nigeria. She was presented to Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle as a diplomatic gift from an African ruler, an arrangement that would shape the trajectory of her entire existence.
The book, authored by Prof Henry Lovejoy of the University of Colorado Boulder, documents how Bonetta arrived in England through Royal Navy officer Frederick Forbes, who brought her from the Kingdom of Dahomey after failing to secure an anti-slavery treaty. Though Queen Victoria took genuine interest in Bonetta’s welfare and funded her education, the relationship operated within a system of control. Lovejoy’s research reveals that Bonetta was formally registered as property of the crown, making her effectively indentured to Queen Victoria until age nineteen under post-abolition legal structures designed to bind liberated Africans into forced labor arrangements.
Despite these constraints, Bonetta achieved considerable prominence as an accomplished linguist, musician, travel writer and educator who became one of the most visually documented African women of the nineteenth century. She was married to a wealthy West African merchant against her stated wishes and later settled in Lagos, where she held significant social standing. However, her image was systematically exploited as imperial propaganda to promote the notion of British colonialism as a benevolent civilizing force.
Bayo Randle, Bonetta’s great-great-grandson and a British-Nigerian barrister, has engaged with this historical reassessment thoughtfully. His family retains mementos of Bonetta’s life, including items gifted by Queen Victoria to her daughter. Randle acknowledges the discomfort inherent in confronting the historical injustices his ancestor experienced while recognizing her remarkable resilience and agency. He emphasizes that Bonetta’s story, though marked by trauma and displacement, ultimately represents an early example of Black British achievement and dignity amid profound adversity.
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