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| Reference | Title | Date |
| CS234 | Court of Session: Unextracted processes, 1st arrangement, Innes-Durie office | 1669-1837 |
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Country code |
GB |
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Repository code |
234 |
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Repository |
National Records of Scotland |
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Reference |
CS234/S/3/12 |
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Title |
James Montgomery v Robert Sheddan: Question of right of a slave to freedom following baptism in Scotland |
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Dates |
1756 |
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Access status |
Open |
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Location |
Off site |
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Description |
This is one of two abandoned Court of Session cases involving black servants who resisted return to the plantations by having themselves baptised and running away. Jamie Montgomery (formerly Shanker, the property of Robert Sheddan of Morrishill in Ayrshire) had been baptised by Reverend John Witherspoon in Beith. His owner forcibly removed him to Port Glasgow and placed him on a Virginia bound ship, but on 21 April 1756 Montgomery escaped to Edinburgh. He was apprehended following the appearance of newspaper advertisements about his escape placed by Sheddan and incarcerated in the Edinburgh tolbooth. Montgomery pursued his claim for freedom at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, but died before the case could be decided.
The documents contained in this process are:
1. Petition of James Montgomery Sheddan, prisoner in the City Guard of Edinburgh, (endorsed with interlocutors, March-July 1756), March 1756
2. Submisson by Robert Sheddan of bill of sale from Joseph Hawkins, Fredericksburg, to Robert Shaddan of 'One Negroe boy named Jamie', 19 May 1756
3. Petition of Robert Sheddan in Morrishill in the parish of Beith against James Montgomery the Negro, 19 May 1756
4. Answers for James Montgomery to Robert Sheddan's bill of advocation, 19 May 1756
5. Answers for Robert Shaddan in Morrishill, parish of Beith, to the bill of advocation presented by James Montgomery, May-June 1756
6. Robert Shedden's declaration of his reasons for refusing permission for Jamie to be baptised, 22 June 1756
7. Petition for Robert Sheddan for warrant to discuss reasons of advocation, 28-30 July 1756
8. Petition for Robert Sheddan, requesting that the case be heard that Session or that James Montgomery is returned to Sheddan, to alleviate the cost of Montgomery's subsistence, which is Sheddan's responsibility, and because of concerns for Montgomery's health during his incarceration (endorsed with interlocutors August-December 1756, declaring that case will be heard on 4 January 1757), 6 August 1756
9. Petition for Robert Sheddan, 9 August 1756
10. Bond of caution by Robert Sheddan of Morrishill, 16 August 1756
11. Memorial for Robert Sheddan to get a day appointed for the hearing in the case, 17 December 1756 |
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