Ignatius Sancho

Ignatius Sancho (* 1729, † December 14, 1780 in London) was an English composer and writer.

Sancho was born in 1729 on a slave ship from Guinea. After the death of his parents he came to England two years old and grew up as a slave to a family in Greenwich. With his self-taught training, he was supported by John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu. 1749, he found work as a butler in the house of the Montagu. After the death of the Duchesse Montagu he received a small inheritance that allowed him to open a grocery store in 1773 in Westminster, which secured him an independent life.

Already in his time as the Montagu Butler Sancho became known as a writer and composer. He was in contact with the politician Charles James Fox and corresponded with famous contemporaries such as Samuel Johnson, David Garrick, Catherine Hyde and Laurence Sterne. 1768 portrayed him the painter Thomas Gainsborough. Between 1767 and 1779 Sancho published a collection of songs with piano accompaniment based on texts by William Shakespeare, Anacreon and Garrick, as well as three volumes with dances. A collection of his letters was published posthumously in 1782.

Swell

• AfriClassical - Ignatius Sancho
• Spartacus Educational - Ignatius Sancho
• Brycchan Carey - Ignatius Sancho: African Man of Letters
• The Music of Ignatius Sancho

• Composer
• Author
• Brief ( literature)
• Slave
• Man
• Born in 1729
• Died in 1780