Black history of Bromley

I noted in my transcription of the parish registers of Bromley that there are clear references to Black servants in the 18th century.
The fashion for servants can be found from the reign of Elizabeth I who in 1596 complained about the number of "blackamoores".
In Bromley which had many large houses in need of servants the burial register for 1744 records the burial of Rose a servant girl in the household of Mister Henry Revel and in 1751 Thomas described as the son of  a Negro Woman is buried in the parish churchyard.
It will surprise some nowadays to find the size of the black population in Britain in the mid 18th century to be as many as 10,000. Although there are few records of households in the Bromley district prior to the 1801 census which survives there are recorded local births and burials to reflect the mid eighteenth century immigration through slavery. To learn more of this period see National Museums Liverpool site.