Read Part One HERE
In this story I continue to focus on a woman named Mary Prince. She lived from 1788 - (appr.) 1833.
In 1827 Adam Woods and his family travelled to London. They took Mary with them as a servant. Although she had served the Woords for more than ten years, they had increasing conflict in England. Four times Wood told her to obey or leave. They gave her a letter that nominally gave her the right to leave but suggested that no one should hire her.
After leaving the household, Mary took shelther with the Moravian church in Hatton Garden. Within a few weeks, she started working occasionally for Thomas Pringle, an abolitionist writer and Secretary to the Anti-Slavery Society, which offered assistance to black people in need.
The Woods left England in 1829 and returned to Antigua. Thomas Pringle tried to arrange to have Wood free Mary, so she would have legal freedom. However, Wood either refused to free her or allow her to be purchased by someone else. His refusal to free her meant that as long as slavery remained legal in Antigua she could not return to her husband without being re-enslaved and submitting to Wood's power.
After trying to arrange a compromise, the Anti-Slavery Committee proposed to petition Parliament to grant Mary's freedom, but did not succeed.
In 1829, Thomas Pringle hired Mary to work in his own household. She is known to have remained in England until at least 1833. Little is known of her life after this.
Read Part Eighty-Four HERE
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