James Somerset (c. 1741 – after 1772) was an African man and the plaintiff in a pivotal court case that confirmed that slavery was illegal in England and Wales.
On 10 March 1749 he was transported by British slave ship to the American Colony of Virginia, where Scottish merchant Charles Stewart bought Somerset on 1 August 1749.
[3] In London, Somerset was baptised on 10 February 1771 at the Church of St Andrew, Holborn, with Thomas Walkin, Elizabeth Cade and John Marlow acting as his godparents.
[2][4] Somerset lived in freedom for two months before he was kidnapped in November 1771 and forced aboard the Ann and Mary, captained by John Knowles, to be transported to Jamaica and sold.
[3] The case, Somerset v Stewart, saw powerful interests arguing on both sides, as it challenged the legal basis of slavery in England and Wales.