Sarah Forbes Bonetta - Socialite

Sarah was born during the early 1840s in southwestern Nigeria she was a Yoruba princess from the Egbado clan. Her name was Aina. Although born into royalty, Aina endured hardship, she was orphaned when her parents were killed during warfare, and was held captive by the ruler King Gezo of Dahomey who was known for his brutality.

British naval officer Captain Frederick Forbes visited the Dahomey court in 1850 and was given Aina as a ‘gift’ for Queen Victoria - a symbolic gesture to seal diplomatic relations.

Captain Forbes accepted the child and renamed her after himself and the ship HMS Bonetta in which he sailed to Africa. Aina was renamed, she became Sarah Forbes Bonetta.

When Sarah was presented to Queen Victoria, the Queen was immediately impressed by her intelligence and the way she carried herself.

Queen Victoria took Sarah under her protection and became her godmother. Sarah attended elite schools and excelled academically, particularly in music and literature. She lived an extraordinary life for a young Black women in  the 1800s.

In 1862 Sarah married a wealthy Yoruba business man named Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies. Sarah and James returned to West Africa where she became a respected social figure in Lagos society. They had three children one, of their children Victoria Davies, became Queen Victoria’s god daughter.

Sarah was in her mid 30s when she died of tuberculosis in 1880.

Captain James and Sarah

15th September 1862