William Ansah Sessarakoo was born around 1735 in Anomabu on the Gold Coast, the son of John Corrantee, a powerful Fante trader who dealt with both British and French merchants and traders in gold and enslaved people.
In 1744 Corrantee sent his son to England to be educated, following the custom of wealthy West African leaders of the period, but when the ship stopped in Barbados, Sessarakoo was treacherously seized and sold into slavery by the ship's captain.
His father used his considerable diplomatic influence to demand Sessarakoo's return, and a rescue ship secured his freedom; upon finally arriving in London in 1748 or early 1749, he was presented as 'The Royal African', a celebrity known as the Prince of Annamaboe.
Sessarakoo was placed under the protection of the Earl of Halifax, received privileged treatment, was introduced to King George II in January 1749, and became a fixture of London society, his story recounted in The Gentleman's Magazine and inspiring contemporary poetry.
In 1750 Sessarakoo returned to the Gold Coast, where he worked as a writer at Cape Coast Castle and used his connections to assist his father's continued trade with European merchants, before his death around 1770.
- Became a celebrated public figure in Georgian London as 'The Royal African'
- Introduced to King George II in January 1749
- His story was recounted in The Gentleman's Magazine and inspired contemporary poetry and portraiture
- His experience of enslavement and rescue shaped early public debate on the slave trade in Britain
- Status could not fully protect against the transatlantic slave trade. Even as the son of a powerful trader, Sessarakoo was still seized and sold into slavery en route to his own education.
- Public fascination and complicity often coexisted. London's high society celebrated Sessarakoo even as the same society profited from the system that had enslaved him.