Lot 55
London , City Road, Thomas Hall Halfpenny 1795, Mrs. Newsham “The White Negress” standing facing, rev. Finsbur…
British 18th and 19th Century Tokens | C25004
Auction: 1 October 2025 at 10:00 BST
Description
London , City Road, Thomas Hall Halfpenny 1795, Mrs. Newsham “The White Negress” standing facing, rev. Finsbury Sq. address, edge rounded plain, 31.25mm/9.31gm. (DH 317). Good Extremely Fine, well struck and toned with a lot of underlying brilliance and traces of original lustre, uncommon
Amelia Newsham was born in Kingston Jamaica, an albino child of black slaves. She was owned by Sir Simon Clarke, 6th Baronet who was a convicted highwayman and had been transported to the Caribbean in 1730. By 1753 she had been sent to London to Clarke’s second son Kingsmill Clarke, a barrister, who arranged her sale for 400 Guineas. The buyer was a John Bennett who began to display her at fairs throughout Britain. She would also appear at private audiences with the Royal Family and at the Royal Society. Contemporary accounts reveal that ‘she was of fair complexion and had white hair, between 4 and 6 inches long, and the consistency and colour of sheep's wool’. By 1795 she was being exhibited by Thomas Hall at his City Road address and it was then that this advertising halfpenny was issued. She ultimately married an English sea-captain with whom she had six children. Whilst we regard her treatment as unquestionably abhorrent today, it was one that Amelia herself capitalised on, gaining firstly her freedom and secondly amassing a small fortune. She would subsequently tour up and down the country on her own terms at exhibitions and fairs at 'a penny a look’ and retired in 1830, a rich woman.
