Early Years
The early life of George Africanus is obscure. Calculating his birth year from his burial certificate, he was probably born in 1763. His obituary in the Nottingham Review of 30 May 1834 states that he was born in a village in Sierra Leone, which became a British colony in 1787.
It is believed that George arrived in England in early 1766. On 31 March 1766, he was baptized George John Scipio Africanus, and described as a negro boy belonging to Benjamin Molineux of Molineux House, in the Collegiate church of St Peter in Wolverhampton.
When George was three years old Molineux began educating him. After Benjamin Molineux's death in 1772, his eldest son, George Molineux, inherited the estate and took responsibility for raising and educating the child. Growing up, Africanus probably worked as a servant in the Molineux family household, before becoming apprenticed to be a Brass founder.
As an adult, Africanus moved to Nottingham, a place familiar to his adopted family. Benjamin Molineux's grandfather, Darcy Molineux (1652-1716), served as High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire in 1687, and Deputy Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire between 1698-1702. Darcy Molineux raised George Molineux's father John (1685-1754) in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, before settling in Wolverhampton around 1700. The family Molineux came from Teversal near Mansfield in the county of Nottinghamshire.
Africanus may have become interested in Nottingham after visiting on the way home from the funeral. A relative in his adopted family, Sir William Molineux, 6th Baronet of Teversall, died near Mansfield in 1781. Members of the Wolverhampton Molineux family, including Africanus, may have passed through Nottingham town center, a city of 18,000 people then, full of beautiful open-air gardens and pleasing surroundings.
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