Tom Jenkins (also known as Thomas Joseph Jenkins, [1] and Black Tom; 1797 – 1859) was Britain's first black school teacher.
Jenkins was the son of a native chief, according to an 1818 letter. [2] Born along the Guinea coast, he was possibly the son of a slave-trading chief 'King Cock-eye'. [3] As an infant (also reported as aged 6), [3] Jenkins traveled with Scottish sea captain James Swanson to Britain, leaving Africa in January 1803 and arriving in Liverpool in May of the same year before traveling to the Scottish Borders town of Hawick. [2] Swanson was a resident of Hawick. [3] After Swanson's death from illness in September 1803, Jenkins lived with Swanson's relatives in the area. [2]
It is suggested alternatively that his name 'Tom Jenkins' was his attempt as a child on the 1803 voyage to pronounce the name of his sponsor Swanson, or a variant of his African title. [3]
After Hawick, Jenkins moved to near Teviothead, learning English and the local dialect. Excelling at school, and a good dancer, he became a labourer.
At the age of 20, Jenkins became the schoolmaster at Teviothead; the appointment not approved by the Presbytery. In response, a blacksmith's building was converted into an independent school by the Duke of Buccleuch and others from 1815 to December 1818. Continuing his education including studying Greek and Latin languages, Jenkins was later tutored by Christopher Armstrong (d. 1820), school master of the Hawick Parish Church, to help prepare for entry to the University. [3] Although he was only there for a month or two, he resumed teaching at Teviothead before being approached by the Christian Knowledge Society to become a missionary.
As an adult, he travelled to Borough Road, London in 1818 [3] where he trained and worked as a teacher at the British and Foreign School Society. [4] Jenkins' time included teaching in schools at Pimlico and Fitzrovia. [3]
He graduated in January 1821 and travelled to Mauritius as a teacher. By 1823, he was chosen to lead the newly established free Government "Model School" in Port Louis. For the next 37 years he introduced some new teaching methods including singing lessons, and speaking of the creole language. [3]
He served the remainder of his teaching career in Mauritius and died on 16 June 1859, [5] leaving a widow, Augustine Laurencia Jenkins, and four children.
Hawick is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is 10 miles (16.1 km) south-west of Jedburgh and 8.9 miles (14.3 km) south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one of the furthest towns from the sea in Scotland, in the heart of Teviotdale, and is the biggest town in Roxburghshire. The town is at the confluence of the Slitrig Water with the River Teviot.
British Sign Language (BSL) is a sign language used in the United Kingdom and is the first or preferred language among the deaf community in the UK. Based on the percentage of people who reported 'using British Sign Language at home' on the 2011 Scottish Census, the British Deaf Association estimates there are 151,000 BSL users in the UK, of whom 87,000 are Deaf. By contrast, in the 2011 England and Wales Census 15,000 people living in England and Wales reported themselves using BSL as their main language. People who are not deaf may also use BSL, as hearing relatives of deaf people, sign language interpreters or as a result of other contact with the British Deaf community. The language makes use of space and involves movement of the hands, body, face and head.
Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the northwest, and Berwickshire to the north. To the southwest it borders Cumberland and to the southeast Northumberland, both in England.
James Wilson was a Scottish businessman, economist, and Liberal politician who founded The Economist weekly and the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China, which merged with Standard Bank in 1969 to form Standard Chartered. He was the first Finance Member of the Viceroy's Executive Council from December 1859 until his death in August 1860. Sent there to put order into the chaos that followed the "Sepoy Mutiny" of 1857, he presented India's first budget, and was responsible for the government accounting system, Pay Office, and audit, apart from government paper currency, Indian Police, a Military Finance Commission, and a Civil Finance Commission.
Sir James Augustus Henry Murray, FBA was a British lexicographer and philologist. He was the primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) from 1879 until his death.
A ballet master is an employee of a ballet company who is responsible for the level of competence of the dancers in their company. In modern times, ballet masters are generally charged with teaching the daily company ballet class and rehearsing the dancers for both new and established ballets in the company's repertoire. The artistic director of a ballet company, whether a male or female, may also be called its ballet master. Historic use of gender marking in job titles in ballet is being supplanted by gender-neutral language job titles regardless of an employee's gender.
Education in South Africa is governed by two national departments, namely the Department of Basic Education (DBE), which is responsible for primary and secondary schools, and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), which is responsible for tertiary education and vocational training. Prior to 2009, both departments were represented in a single Department of Education. Among sub-Saharan African countries, South Africa has one of the highest literacy rates. According to The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency as of 2019, 95% of the population age 15 and over can read and write in South Africa were respectively literate.
Henry Scott Riddell was a Scottish poet and songwriter. In the Scottish Orpheus, a collection of songs of Scotland by Adam Hamilton, he is credited with writing Scotland Yet and The Dowie Dens O' Yarrow.
Sir Thomas Henderson was a Scottish Liberal Party politician and businessman.
John Borthwick Gilchrist was a Scottish surgeon, linguist, philologist and Indologist. Born and educated in Edinburgh, he spent most of his early career in India, where he made a study of the local languages. In later life, he returned to Britain and lived in Edinburgh and London. In his final years, he moved to Paris, where he died at the age of 81.
Teviothead is a small village and civil parish in Teviotdale in the Scottish Borders, known locally as Teviotheid. It is located south of the River Teviot.
Edward Alured Draper was a military officer in the British Army and civil servant in Mauritius.
George Wallis (1811–1891) was an artist, museum curator and art educator. He was the first Keeper of Fine Art Collection at South Kensington Museum in London.
The Rev. Joseph Jackson Fuller (1825–1908), Baptist missionary to the pre-colonial African Chiefdoms of the Cameroons, was one of the earliest slaves to be freed in Jamaica who went on to become well-educated and travel internationally. He headed mission stations, teaching, preaching, brick-making, and translating books such as John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress into Duala. Retiring to England, Fuller ended his days as a public speaker for Baptist and missionary audiences, sometimes before thousands of people.
Thomas Shadrach James, born Thomas Shadrach Peersahib, was a Methodist lay preacher, linguist and herbalist. However, it was as a teacher, first at Maloga Aboriginal Mission and later at Cummeragunja Reserve, that he is remembered in history. Through this role, he equipped and influenced generations of Aboriginal Australian activists, including Margaret Tucker, Pastor Doug Nicholls, George Patten, Jack Patten, William Cooper and Bill Onus.
Thomas Helm was a Scottish rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s and 1910s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for South of Scotland, and at club level for Hawick RFC, and selected to play representative level rugby league (RL) for Great Britain, and at club level for Oldham, and Coventry, as a forward, during the era of contested scrums.
Alexander Gillespie FRSE, FRCSEd was a Scottish surgeon. He is one of the few persons to have served two non-consecutive periods as President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He was President from 1810 to 1812 and again from 1818 to 1820.
Prudence was built in Philadelphia in 1796. Between 1801 and 1803 she made two complete voyages from Liverpool as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She was captured around late 1803 on her third voyage before she could purchase captives.
Ebenezer Picken was a Scottish poet and songwriter known as "The Poet of Paisley." He wrote poetry in English and Scots and produced a dictionary of Scottish words which was published posthumously.