In search of Ned: A Zulu man in Mid-Victorian Britain

This article takes a micro-history approach, focussing on the life of a man identified only in the British records as “Ned” in order to illuminate the complexity and slipperiness of categories of “race.” Ned had lived in the Zulu Kingdom and, after fleeing a civil war there, became employed in Natal by an English colonist-settler, Thomas Handley. Ned travelled with the Handley family to England in 1859, and during this time, unexpectedly “disappeared” from the Handley’s residence near Sheffield. A manhunt ensued and, as locals ruminated on Ned’s possible status as a “slave,” the case attracted the interest of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. He was eventually taken to London and housed in the Strangers’ Home for Asiatics, Africans and South Sea Islanders before his tragic death a few months later. Ned’s repeated escapes riveted the public and resulted in detailed press coverage. Numerous parties became interested in his case and complex and changing processes of racialisation were key to the shifting ways in which he was represented. In this article, we both search for Ned’s agency and volition, and demonstrate how the case also speaks to major issues in British History including race, humanitarianism, and enslavement.