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Ignatius Sancho's trade card
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Ignatius Sancho's trade card
- Object:
Print
- Place of origin:
London, England (probably, made)
- Date:
after 1772-before 14 December 1780 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Engraving on paper
- Credit Line:
Forster Bequest
- Museum number:
F.118:194
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C, case EE, shelf 24, box II
This printed card was made for Ignatius Sancho (1729–1780), a London grocer. It advertises his special blend Trinidado tobacco and illustrates a native American boy smoking a pipe and an African boy gathering sugar. Sancho's links with the Caribbean were more than commercial. He was himself an African, born on a slave ship crossing the Atlantic.
He came to London as a small boy, first living in Greenwich and later working as a butler for the powerful Montagu family. As well as running his grocery shop, he wrote music, appeared on the stage and corresponded with leading literary figures. He was the first African known to vote in a British election.
