Ignatius Sancho was one of a small group of relatively prosperous Africans living in eighteenth-century London. His early life was spent in slavery, but in later life he worked as a butler to the aristocratic Montague family before running a grocery store in Westminster. He is said to have performed on the stage and to have written a theory of music. More certainly, during his lifetime he published several collections of music, and was well known for a celebrated correspondence with the novelist Laurence Sterne. His letters, almost certainly written with an eye to publication, were collected and published in 1782, almost two years after his death.
The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, An African, edited by Frances Crew in 1782, is one of the earliest self-representations in English by
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Citation: Carey, Brycchan. "Ignatius Sancho". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 November 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=6027, accessed 22 November 2024.]
