Thomas Walker (slave trader)
| Thomas Walker | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1758 Henbury, Bristol, England |
| Died |
1797 at sea |
Cause of death | Murder |
| Occupation | Slave trader |
| Spouse(s) | Catherine (McLelland) Walker |
| Children | 2 sons, 1 daughter, including George E. Walker |
Thomas Walker (1758–1797) (a.k.a. Beau Walker) was a British slave trader.
Biography
Early life
Thomas Walker was born 1758 in Henbury, now a suburb of Bristol, England.[1][2]
Career
He worked as a slave trader, when Bristol was one of the three major slave trading ports in Britain.[2] He served as a slave ship Captain and was resident slave trader who operated in the Sierra Leone region of West Africa.[2]
He did much of his slave trading at Bunce Island, a British slave castle in the Sierra Leone River, owned at that time by the Company of John & Alexander Anderson, based in London.[2] He was involved in at least eleven slave trading voyages between 1784 and 1792, taking African captives from Sierra Leone to the British West Indies and the United States.[2]
Personal life
On February 22, 1785, he married Catherine (McLelland) Walker (1770–1806) at St. Andrew's Church in Clifton.[2] She died on October 18, 1806, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a decade after her husband, leaving their older son as the guardian for his sister and a younger son, George E. Walker (1797–1864).[2]
Death
He was murdered in 1797 at sea in a mutiny.[2]
Legacy
He is an ancestor of two U.S. presidents, George Herbert Walker Bush and George Walker Bush.[2]
References
- "Americans of Gentle Birth and Their Ancestors" v1 ed. Pittman, Baltimore Genealogical Publishing Company, 1970, pp. 312–318]
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