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James Pinson Labulo Davies; Aina (Sarah Forbes Bonetta (later Davies))

4 of 4 portraits of Aina (Sarah Forbes Bonetta (later Davies))

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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James Pinson Labulo Davies; Aina (Sarah Forbes Bonetta (later Davies))

by Camille Silvy
albumen print, 15 September 1862
4 1/4 in. x 5 1/8 in. (108 mm x 129 mm) image size
Purchased, 1904
Photographs Collection
NPG Ax61385

On display in Room 23 on Floor 2 at the National Portrait Gallery

Sittersback to top

Artistback to top

  • Camille Silvy (1834-1910), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 14313 portraits, Sitter in 24 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • 100 Photographs, 2018, p. 28 Read entry

    Sarah Forbes Bonetta (1843-80; ‘MrsDavies’) was born of Yoruba descent in West Africa, where she was captured at the age of five during the Okeadon War. She was thought to be of royal lineage and was presented to Queen Victoria, as if a gift from King Gezo of Dahomey (now Benin). Sarah was named after Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the Royal Navy, who brought her to England, aboard his ship HMS Bonetta. As Queen Victoria’s protégée, Bonetta was brought up among the British upper class, and educated in both England and Sierra Leone. She became an accomplished pianist and linguist. In 1862 at St Nicholas’s Church in Brighton she married the merchant and philanthropist James Pinson Labulo Davies (1828-1906). This photograph is one of several that were taken to mark their marriage. Davies was born in Sierra Leone to Nigerian parents and enlisted with the Royal Navy. He is credited with pioneering cocoa farming in West Africa. The couple returned to Africa soon after their wedding. Queen Victoria was godmother to their first child, Victoria, who later attended Cheltenham Ladies’ College. The photographs are pasted into one of the daybooks that record the work of Camille Silvy (1834-1910), one of the most successful portrait photographers in London at the time.

  • 100 Photographs, 2018, p. 29 Read entry

    Sarah Forbes Bonetta (1843-80; ‘MrsDavies’) was born of Yoruba descent in West Africa, where she was captured at the age of five during the Okeadon War. She was thought to be of royal lineage and was presented to Queen Victoria, as if a gift from King Gezo of Dahomey (now Benin). Sarah was named after Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the Royal Navy, who brought her to England, aboard his ship HMS Bonetta. As Queen Victoria’s protégée, Bonetta was brought up among the British upper class, and educated in both England and Sierra Leone. She became an accomplished pianist and linguist. In 1862 at St Nicholas’s Church in Brighton she married the merchant and philanthropist James Pinson Labulo Davies (1828-1906). This photograph is one of several that were taken to mark their marriage. Davies was born in Sierra Leone to Nigerian parents and enlisted with the Royal Navy. He is credited with pioneering cocoa farming in West Africa. The couple returned to Africa soon after their wedding. Queen Victoria was godmother to their first child, Victoria, who later attended Cheltenham Ladies’ College. The photographs are pasted into one of the daybooks that record the work of Camille Silvy (1834-1910), one of the most successful portrait photographers in London at the time.

  • Edited by Lucy Peltz & Louise Stewart, Love Stories: Art, Passion & Tragedy, 2020, p. 183

Placesback to top

Events of 1862back to top

Current affairs

The Lancashire cotton famine, a depression in the north-west textile industry brought about by the American civil war, reaches its climax. With large numbers of mills closing after Confederate blockades halted cotton supplies, many Lancashire families were in receipt of relief.

Art and science

Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard carry out the first pasteurisation tests, the process of heating liquids at 55 degree Celsius or higher for short periods of time, destroying viruses and harmful organisms such as bacteria and yeast. .
Victor Hugo's novel Les Miserables is published, covering the Napoleonic wars. It traces the ex-convict Jean Valjean's character against wider questions of social and political justice, duty and love.

International

Otto Eduard Leopold Bismarck becomes Minister-President of Prussia, appointed by Wilhelm I after the liberal Diet refused to authorise funding for a proposed reorganisation of the army. Bismarck, intent on maintaining royal supremacy, engineers the Unification of Germany during his time in office.
John Hanning Speke claims to have found the source of the Nile, proving that the Victoria Nile issued from the north end of lake Victoria, over Ripon Falls.

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