William Cuffay was a first generation Black Englishman born in 1788 at Chatham, Kent to a runaway West Indian slave. He only grew to four foot eleven inches due to a lack of Vitamin D. He married Ann Marshall on the 24th May 1819 in St. ...See moreWilliam Cuffay was a first generation Black Englishman born in 1788 at Chatham, Kent to a runaway West Indian slave. He only grew to four foot eleven inches due to a lack of Vitamin D. He married Ann Marshall on the 24th May 1819 in St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Trafalgar Square. She died in 1824. He then married Ann Broomhead on the 12th February 1825 at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church. She died in childbirth in 1826. He married Mary Ann Manvell on the 31st May 1827 at St. James, Piccadilly. She was a straw hat maker who supplemented William's income when he had periods of unemployment during the year as a tailor. She believed in the rights of women as well as the rights of man, and helped her husband out during his campaigning. She followed him to Tasmania on the 27th April 1853 when he was transported there for life. She died in 1869. William died in poverty on the 29th July 1870 in the workhouse in Tasmania.
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