[1] In 1749 Stewart had purchased James Somerset, a young Black boy recently enslaved in West Africa and brought across the Atlantic Ocean.
[2] Once in Britain, while working on business for Stewart, Somerset came into contact with a number of free blacks and white abolitionists.
After Somerset was recaptured in November 1771 he was gaoled aboard the Ann and Mary, which was about to sail for the West Indies where he was to be sold on.
Stewart refused, and his case was financed by planters in the West Indies who wanted to force a ruling that they believed would confirm that slavery was legal.
[citation needed] As a last resort Mansfield tried to persuade Somerset's godmother to buy him from Stewart and set him free, but she declined on principle.