October is Black History Month, so every day during October I will be posting up an introduction to an historical person of colour with a place in the history of the United Kingdom.

Francis Barber, born a slave on a Jamaican sugar plantation in 1742 or 1743, was the manservant of dictionary-writer Dr Samuel Johnson in London from 1752 until Johnson died over thirty years later.

In later years he had acted as Johnson’s assistant in revising his famous Dictionary of the English Language and other works. Barber was also an important source of information for Johnson’s friend and biographer James Boswell.

At the age of about 15, Barber had been brought to England by his owner, Colonel Richard Bathurst, and was sent to school in Yorkshire. He was then sent to Johnson as a valet, after the death of Johnson’s wife. The legal status of slavery was still unclear at that time, but when Bathurst died in 1754 he gave Barber his freedom in his will, with a small legacy of £12. Johnson himself was an outspoken opponent of slavery, not just in England but also in the colonies.

On being freed, Barber went to work for an apothecary in Cheapside then signed up for the Navy. He was discharged in October 1760, and returned to London and to Johnson to be his servant.

When Johnson died, he left Barber £70 a year (over £9,000 in today’s money) along with Johnson’s books and papers and a gold watch. Johnson wanted Barber to move to Lichfield, where Johnson had been born, which Barber did, opening a draper’s shop and marrying a local woman. He later opened up a small village school.

Barber died in Stafford on 13 January 1801 following an unsuccessful operation at Staffordshire Royal Infirmary. He was survived by his son, Samuel Barber, his daughter, Ann, and his wife, Elizabeth. Samuel became a Methodist lay preacher, while Elizabeth and Ann set up a small school. His descendants still farm near Lichfield.

More about Francis Barber at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Barber