Colonial encounters, migration, and the shaping of new identities

Undated photo of Raaya (Roy) Macauley in Freetown, Sierra Leone

The intertwined stories of Zachary Macaulay and Raaya (Roy) draw from both historical records and elements of historical fiction.

While Zachary's life is well-documented—born in May 1768 in Scotland, working as a merchant’s assistant in Jamaica, opposing slavery, and later serving as governor of Sierra Leone—Raaya's tale blends real history with imaginative details. 

Raaya (pronounced as Roy), born in Bengal in 1768 after his family lost their lands, began working aboard East India Company ships as a teenager. He met Macaulay in Jamaica, became his servant, and accompanied him to London and then Sierra Leone.

Both men’s lives intersected with significant historical contexts: the transatlantic slave trade, early British settlements in Sierra Leone, and the expansion of the East India Company. Macaulay was influenced by abolitionists like William Wilberforce, who served on councils and advocated against slavery. 

Raaya, now known as Roy Macaulay, settled in London with Zachary and also traveled to Sierra Leone, where the British established Freetown for liberated Africans with the support of abolitionist organizations.

Over time, both Zachary and Roy married—Zachary to Selina Mills in England, and Roy to Hagar Padukone, a woman from the Black Poor community in Sierra Leone.

Their families grew alongside the evolving settlement of Freetown, rooted in the complex interactions between European settlers, formerly enslaved people, and local African communities.

The narrative reflects colonial encounters, migration, and the shaping of new identities during a turbulent period of Atlantic and Indian Ocean history.

The story of Zachary Macaulay and Indian-born Raaya begins somewhere, and for me, the most crucial source is written historical records.

While I have relied on Zachary’s story, which has been passed down through generations and is well-documented, the tale of Raaya (Roy) is partly a historical fantasy that combines elements of the fantastic with real or recognizable historical periods.

Additionally, it falls into the category of historical fiction that includes fantastical elements not present in the original historical records. 

When Zachary Macaulay was born in 1768, Pedro de Sintra, a Portuguese explorer, was already a notable figure in history, having been among the first Europeans to explore the coast of present-day Sierra Leone in the 1460s.

He named the area "Serra Lyoa" or "Lion Mountains," which is believed to be the origin of the name "Sierra Leone."

From 1500 onward, Portuguese and Spanish traders began transporting enslaved West and Central Africans to colonies in the Americas. The first enslaved Africans arrived in English-controlled North America in August 1619 when the ship White Lion captured 20 enslaved Africans from a Spanish ship. 

(Photo source: By Spudgun67 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44971879) 

Africans brought to Britain aboard slave ships, sometimes as enslaved individuals or indentured servants, were so numerous that by 1596, Queen Elizabeth I complained.

Many residents of Black descent sought refuge in neighborhoods such as Mile End, Paddington, and port cities around Britain, from which ships left bound for the west coast of Africa loaded with copper and brass bars, textiles, and iron wares to be used as currency in exchange for captured Africans. 

By the time Elizabeth died, some brave Black men used maritime life as a route to freedom, especially after she granted a charter to the Governor and Company of Merchants of London to trade in the East Indies. Black sailors experienced maritime life again when James Lancaster led the East India Company’s first voyage in 1601 aboard The Red Dragon. 

By 1608, the East India Company established its first factory on India's Andhra Coast in the Bay of Bengal, followed by a second at Surat in 1615.

Surat, a large city along the Tapi River in Gujarat, was known for its silk weaving. Surat Castle, built in the 1500s to defend against Portuguese colonists, overlooks the river. Mughal Emperor Nur-ud-din Salim, also known as Jahangir, allowed kingdoms and ports within his realm to host English merchants—subjects of his ally Thomas Roe.

Holding exclusive trading rights, the East India Company became one of the region’s most powerful entities, developing a large armed security force of about 260,000 soldiers.

Initially recruited from local communities in Madras and Bombay, the army grew as battalions and regiments formed from the same communities, villages, or even families, with the commanding officer often acting as a village chief.  

King George III, who ruled from 1760 to 1820, witnessed both the rise and fall of British power in America and the significant expansion of the East India Company's role in India.

While he's known for losing the American colonies, his reign also saw Britain expand its influence in India through the East India Company. George III ascended to the throne during the Seven Years' War (also known as the French and Indian War), which resulted in significant territorial gains in North America but also heightened tensions that ultimately led to the American Revolution. 

Zachary Macaulay and Raaya (Roy) were both eight years old when King George III took the throne.

Born in Inveraray, Macaulay had two brothers: Aulay, an antiquary, and Colin, a general and abolitionist. Zachary started working in a merchant's office in Glasgow. In late 1784, at age 16, he emigrated to Jamaica and worked as an assistant manager at a sugar plantation.

However, he opposed slavery, contrary to his father's views, and resigned from his position. He returned to London in 1789, where he began working as a bookkeeper. He was influenced by Thomas Babington, an evangelical abolitionist whom his sister Jean married, and through him, he was introduced to William Wilberforce and Henry Thornton. 

In 1790, Macaulay visited Sierra Leone, a colony established by the Sierra Leone Company for formerly enslaved people. During a return trip from Sierra Leone to Britain, Zachary traveled aboard a slave ship.

This experience supposedly strengthened his resolve that Britain should immediately end its involvement in the slave trade. By 1792, Zachary was serving on the council, and he was appointed governor of British Sierra Leone in 1794, a position he held until 1799. 

When Raaya (Roy) was born in Bengal in 1768, his family's Rajput clan no longer held the large landholdings once controlled by their royal line. Born in a small village on elevated black cotton soil, he grew up in areas where Sanskrit was the primary language.

In 1784, at the age of 16, Raaya (Roy) glimpsed a future on the East Indiaman vessels, which carried passengers and goods.

The teenage boy was hired as a servant by a soldier who had taken a job as a guard on a merchant ship. They were armed to defend against pirates.

For the first time, Raaya (Roy) travelled beyond the land bordered by the Lakshadweep Sea to the west, Goa to the northwest, Maharashtra to the north, Telangana to the northeast, Andhra Pradesh to the east, Tamil Nadu to the southeast, and Kerala to the southwest. 

Raaya (Roy) began working for the East India Company on a ship bound for Jamaica, where he met Zachary Macaulay, who served as an assistant manager at a sugar plantation.

Because Zachary opposed slavery, contrary to his father's views, he recruited Raaya as an indentured servant when he resigned from his position. 

Zachary and Raaya, whom he renamed Roy Macaulay, returned to London in 1789, where Zachary began working as a bookkeeper.

Roy served as his manservant while Zachary attended meetings with Thomas Babington, an evangelical abolitionist whom his sister Jean had married. Through him, he was introduced to William Wilberforce and Henry Thornton.

Roy was also with Zacahary when, in 1790, he visited Sierra Leone, a colony established by the Sierra Leone Company for formerly enslaved people.

During Zachary’s return trip from Sierra Leone to Britain, Zachary traveled aboard a slave ship. This experience strengthened his resolve that Britain should immediately end its involvement in the slave trade.

By 1792, Zachary was serving on the council, and he was appointed governor of British Sierra Leone in 1794, a position he held until 1799, when he married Selina, daughter of Quaker printer Thomas Mills. They were introduced by Hannah More on August 26, 1799, and settled in Clapham. 

Before Zachary left Sierra Leone to get married, he shared stories with Roy about how the new town had risen on ancient African trading routes to become a major center for the adjudication and resettlement of liberated Africans by 1787.

The area was initially settled with the support of the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor, an organization founded by British abolitionists, including Granville Sharp.

The first group of formerly enslaved people arrived in 1787, accompanied by some English tradesmen. These individuals were part of a self-governance project supported by abolitionist leaders like Granville Sharp and Olaudah Equiano. 

The initial group, comprising approximately 400 men and women from Great Britain, faced internal and external challenges and nearly did not survive.

The settlement was burned down in 1789 when the people of Koya realized the British had deceived them. The locals waged war on the settlers, who had to run uphill to Regent and Gloucester.

Later, when they forcefully took over other areas, the Koya people brought a dead ass and buried it at Fort Thornton, the name given by Governor Clarkson when the first group of Maroons arrived at Government Wharf.

Alexander Falconbridge was sent to Sierra Leone in 1791 to gather the remaining Black Poor settlers, and they re-established Granville Town around what is now Cline Town, near Fourah Bay.

The settlement of Granville Town was on land bought from a local Koya Temne sub-chief and his regent. The British understood that the purchase meant their new settlers would own the land forever.

Even though the arrangement between Europeans and the Koya Temne included settlement provisions, Naimbana's actual name was Gbanabom of Robaga, and he was the chief or king of the Koya Kingdom, which covered the entire Western Area, from the Rokel River in the north to Warima in the east.

He gave away some land, excluding Cline Town and the area now known as Deep Water Quay. This act caused him to fall out with his people, and he was asked to ‘eat kola.’ He died shortly afterward and was never buried. His body was placed in a tree, and vultures ate it.

Popular oral histories say that when asked for his name, Bana replied, ‘Name Bana,’ and the white scribe wrote his name as Naimbana. Bana was denied burial at the Robaga burial sites of the Koya chiefs because of how he handled the incident at Kiamp.

Gbanabom died and was never given a chieftain’s burial; instead, his body was left to vultures to consume at Robaga on the Rokel River, very close to Pepel.

King Tom was Bai Tham, a Mandingo, and a regent chief to the Koya king. Pa Daimba was also a regent Mandingo chief. Pa Kaimp lived close to what is now Government Wharf and was the one with whom he and King Gbanabom signed the treaty, giving land from Government Wharf to Ekemorie to the British as protection from slave traders.

In Pa Demba’s village, as well as in the other villages where the Koya of Romeron resided, the sacred groves, the gbanikas, and boromesarr, so central to Themne spiritualities, disappeared.

History tells us that the cotton tree was a shrine long before Freetown came into existence. The Themne, after being uprooted by the British, gathered together and, in some fearsome ceremony, buried an ass's head and placed a curse on Freetown. 

The Themneh word for Freetown is Kiamp, and its etymology suggests reference to the ‘camp’ built for the first returnees. 

When conditions in Nova Scotia proved unfavorable for the Black Loyalists in 1792, approximately 1,200 Black Nova Scotians chose to migrate to Sierra Leone on British ships. The settlements of the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor and the Nova Scotians established the roots of Freetown.  

Roy found a young bride named Hagar Padukone among the Black Poor. He, too, married in 1799 in the new colony, while his friend and benefactor, Zachary Macaulay, married Selina Mills in England.

Hagar Padukone's father was originally from Karnataka, in a small village surrounded by coconut trees, water, and kudru.

Roy and Hagar gave birth to their first child. They called her Selina after Zachary's wife. 

The couple's second child was Hannah, named after the woman who introduced Zachary and Selina, and the twin boys that followed were named Aulay and Colin, Zachary's brothers.