Robert Wedderburn (radical) - Early Life

Early Life

Wedderburn's father, James Wedderburn, was a Scottish doctor and sugar planter settled in Kingston, Jamaica, who while there had children by several different slaves. After she had already given birth to two children by him Wedderburn sold Robert's mother Rosanna, then five months pregnant with his third child, back to her previous owner. ( James Wedderburn later returned to live in Britain. His legitimate son and heir, defending his father after these details were made public in the British press, denied the paternity and further claimed Rosanna was both promiscuous and unable to control her temper.) James Wedderburn stipulated however that Rosanna's child (Robert) when born should be legally free, and himself officially registered both Robert and an elder brother, James, as free. Although born free, Wedderburn was raised in a harsh environment, as his mother was often flogged due to her "violent and rebellious temper". She was eventually re-sold away from her son. Wedderburn was then raised by his maternal grandmother, a woman known as "Talkee Amy".

To escape the insecurity and abuse of the plantation, Wedderburn signed on with the Royal Navy at age 16. On the ships, food and living conditions were horrific, and it was during this time that Wedderburn became increasingly aghast at the violent punishments used by the British both on their ships and in their colonies. He arrived in Britain at age 17 and lived in St. Giles among a community of runaway slaves, Jamaican ex-servicemen, and other immigrant minorities including Jews, Lascars and Irish. Known as the "London blackbirds", this ethnically diverse subculture is reported to have been relatively free of the racial discrimination so prevalent elsewhere in this era. However, as people living on the margins, the "blackbirds" often relied on criminal activity in order to survive.

Through means that remain unclear (it is possible that he had been an apprentice in Jamaica or had learned while in the Navy), Wedderburn became a journeyman tailor. As he referred to himself as a "flint" tailor, this suggests he was registered in the book of trades and shared values typical of other artisans - including pride in his craft and a belief in economic independence. Unfortunately, the instability of his career made him increasingly susceptible to the effects of a trade recession, inflation and food shortages, and he was soon reduced to part-time mending work on the outskirts of town. By now married and desperate for money during one of his wife's pregnancies, Wedderburn visited his father's family at Inveresk on the outskirts of Edinburgh. As this proved unsuccessful (apparently his father disavowed him and he was sent away with some small beer and a bent or broken sixpence), Wedderburn dabbled in petty theft and keeping a bawdy house. At some point he published in Bell's Life in London an account of his origin and his father's failure to provide for him. His alleged half-brother Andrew Colvile published a reply citing his father's denial of paternity and later threatened to sue the paper it published any further slanders.