Eliza Junor (c. 1804–20 April 1861) was a Scotswoman of mixed race, who was the daughter of a former slave owner, Hugh Junor, and a slave or former slave ("free coloured woman") whose name is not recorded.[1][2][3]
Life
[edit]Junor and her brother William were born in Demerara in the British colony of Guyana, where their father owned a timber estate with sixty enslaved people.[4] In 1816, Hugh Junor returned with his children, though apparently not with their mother, to his native Scotland and settled in Fortrose, on the Black Isle,[3] and had both children baptised at Rosemarkie.[4] Her father died in 1823 and bequeathed his estate in Essequibo to his legitimate son Colin; his widow remarried and named one of her sons Hugh Junor Browne in honour of her first husband.[5]
Junor went to school in Fortrose and won prizes for penmanship. She later lived in Edinburgh and Brixton, London, where she worked as a governess. She never married but had one daughter, Emma McGregor,[3] who was baptised at St George Middlesex in 1838.[4] She returned to Fortrose in the 1850s. Her brother William married a woman from Glasgow and emigrated to Argentina as a missionary for the Methodist Church.[2] Junor died on 20 April 1861 and is buried in Rosemarkie churchyard.[3][6]
Legacy
[edit]Junor has attracted interest as an example of a black woman living in Scotland and England in the 19th century. Her life was researched by historian David Alston,[2][3] and has been made into a short film in Gaelic by Fèisean nan Gàidheal, Eliza, with the title role played by Edinburgh-based actor Tawana Maramba.[2][7] A song "Òran Eliza" was composed by Eilidh Mackenzie.[7]
In October 2020, Fortrose Academy held the first Eliza Junor Penmanship Competition, to mark Black History Month.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Alston, David (June 2020). "The Long After-life of Liza Junor" (PDF). Retrieved 4 October 2021.
- ^ a b c d Steven McKenzie (20 November 2020). "How a slave-owner's daughter made a life in Scotland". BBC. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
- ^ a b c d e David Alston. "Eliza Junor". Slaves and Highlanders. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
- ^ a b c "Hugh Junor". Legacies of British Slave-ownership. University College London. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
- ^ "Hugh Junor". Slaves & Highlanders. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
- ^ a b Fraser, Alasdair (14 November 2020). "Legacy of Black Isle slave owner's daughter remembered at her former school, Fortrose Academy". Ross-shire Journal. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
- ^ a b Folk Radio (18 November 2020). "New 19th Century Gaelic Drama Tells the Remarkable Story of Eliza Junor from Guyana". Retrieved 23 November 2020.
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