Sara Forbes Bonetta, (born Aina circa 1843) was a titled member of the Egbado clan of the Yoruba people in now present-day Nigeria. She was orphaned during a war with the Kingdom of Dahomey as a child and was later enslaved by King Ghezo of Dahomey. She was given as a “gift” to Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the British Royal Navy after rescuing her, renaming her Sara Forbes Bonetta, after himself and his ship HMS Bonetta. Captain Forbes presented Sara to Queen Victoria who was touched by her story and impressed by the young princess’s “exceptional intelligence”, raising her as her goddaughter.
Sara was plagued by fragile health. In 1851 she returned to Africa to attend the Female Institution in Freetown, Sierra Leone. At 12 years, Queen Victoria ordered that Sara return to England and was placed under the care of Mr and Mrs Schon in Chatham, Kent.
Growing up, Sara spent time visiting Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and was close friends with her daughter Princess Alice. She was later commanded by the Queen to marry Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies a wealthy Lagos philanthropist in1862.
Sara died of tuberculosis in1880. In her memory, her husband erected a granite monument in Lagos. A plaque commemorating Sara was placed at Palm Cottage in Chatham in 2016, as part of the TV series Black and British: A Forgotten History.
A portrait of Forbes Bonetta is displayed at Osborne House, Isle of Wight since 2020 as part of English Heritage’s recognition of Black history.
Refs: Sara Forbes Bonetta – Wikipedia; African princess and Queen Victoria’s goddaughter, Sarah Forbes Bonetta (1843-1880) – Brighton & Hove Museums (brightonmuseums.org.uk)
Image by Camille Silvy, albumen print, 15 September 1862
