St. Vincent and the Grenadines 2nd Generation held a restricted Covid-19 memorial to unveil the conservation works on the grave of George Alexander Gratton in Marlow.
The ceremony, which took place on December 19, officiated by Bishop Brooks & Bishop Tapfumaneyi with the town’s mayor Richard Scott and His Excellency and High Commissioner for St. Vincent & the Grenadines Cenio Lewis, as well as a restricted number of representatives from Marlow and Wycombe.
The unveiling was jointly conducted by Marlow Town Mayor & the Chairman of SV2G, as a historic occasion for Vincentian nationals and for the communities in Buckinghamshire, to recognise the tragic story of this enslaved African child.
The conservation works was part of a Heritage Lottery Funded project.
The project focused on the life of George, who was also known as the ‘Beautiful Spotted Boy’ by revisiting the 18th century Vincentian presence in the UK.
With this grant and the support of Marlow Museum and Marlow Society, SV2G were able to share and celebrate George’s life.
The project explored Marlow’s connections with the community in the Wycombe district, with High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire having the largest population of Vincentians in the UK.
George’s body is buried in the graveyard at All Saints Church, Marlow, with his grave being previously unrecognisable to the general public, but this has now been restored as part of this project to preserve Vincentian heritage in the UK.
Significantly, the grave is one of, if not the earliest, pieces of evidence of Vincentian presence in Britain.
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George’s tragic story as an enslaved African child in St. Vincent that was bought to England in 1809, can be found on a dedicated website to his legacy: www.georgealexandergratton.org.uk.
He was one of the first Vincentians to arrive in Georgian Britain but sadly died at the age of four years and nine months.
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