Q&A: How a London boy was almost sold into slavery [Video]

Emancipation Day was celebrated across the country this week. It’s the annual celebration of the day the Slavery Abolition Act came into effect across the British Empire. Afternoon Drive Host Matt Allen spoke with Hidden Histories columnist Tom Peace about the 1858 kidnapping of a young black boy named Sylvanus Demarest by slavers, and a daring rescue that helped to maintain his freedom. 

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Matt Allen: What was the Demarest rescue?

Tom Peace: In September 1858, a 10 year old boy named Sylvanus Demarest was kidnapped in downtown London. He was kidnapped because he was black, and his white kidnapper was taking him to Missouri to enslave him. 

It was stopped in Chatham by the Chatham Vigilance Committee because London’s mayor, Elijah Leonard, witnessed this boy with this man on the train platform at the Great Western Railway Company – now the London Via Rail station. 

He wired down to Chatham the information about this boy, and the …