‘But one, a hapless orphan, slumbers here’

5__Anna Maria Vassa Memorial

‘But one, a hapless orphan, slumbers here’

High on the wall just by the entrance to St Andrew’s church is a rather grand memorial to a young girl who died in 1797, aged four. That she should be remembered in this way is testament to the esteem in which her father was held, and the story behind his life is an extraordinary one.

Her father was Olaudah Equiano, kidnapped from his village in Nigeria at the age of 11 and carried off into slavery. He was bought by a Captain Pascal, who named him Gustavus Vassa and brought him back to England. He learned to read and write and eventually bought his freedom. Living in London, he became active in the anti-slavery movement and was championed by the Revd Dr Peckard, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, who was also prominent in the campaign against slavery. It is likely that Peckard encouraged Equiano to write his life story.

‘I believe there are a few events in my life, which have not happened to many.’ So Equiano began his tale, which was published in 1789 under the title The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African.One of the first widely read slave accounts, the book became a bestseller, and was reprinted eight times in his lifetime.

Equiano may have met his future wife, Susannah Cullen, who came from Fordham in Cambridgeshire, through his contact with Revd Peckard. They were married in 1792 and set up home in Soham, not far from her home village. The following year Anna Maria was born, followed in 1795 by her sister, Joanna, but the family’s joy was short-lived: tragedy struck when in February 1796 Susannah died, aged 34. The following year Equiano died, in London, and just a few short months after that Anna Maria too was dead.

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Address St Andrew’s Church, Church Street, Chesterton, CB4 1DT | Getting there Bus 117 or Citi 2 to Chesterton High Street | Hours Mon – Sat 9am – 4pm for visits; Sun services 8am, 10am & 6.30pm | Tip From Church Street, walk down almost to the end of Chapel Street where you will come across Chesterton Tower, built in the mid-14th century. Th e land on which it stands was sold off for housing in the 1960s, leaving the tower incongruously stranded next to a row of garages.