In 1769, David Spens, also known as 'Black Tom,' filed a lawsuit against his 'owner,' Dr. David Dalrymple, in Methill, Fife, for wrongful arrest. Spens had attempted to leave Dalrymple's service due to ill health. He received support from the local community, which assisted in his baptism, and two lawyers advocated for his freedom. David Spens was baptised in a church in Wemyss and later held in custody at Dysart jail.
His baptism was a turning point. The teen and his supporters claimed freedom on the grounds that he was no longer a 'heathen slave' but a Christian, set free from his 'old yoke of bondage and slavery'. Money was raised by local people to pay for the lawyer's fees and court fine.
However, the lawsuit ended abruptly when Dalrymple passed away, resulting in Spens' automatic emancipation.
Extract from National Records of Scotland
The second case to reach the Court of Session featured David Spens (or Spence), a black enslaved man, and his master, Dr David Dalrymple, from Methil in Fife. From the first set of court papers (NRS, CS236/D/4/3 box 104) we know that Dalrymple was living in the West Indies when, for thirty pounds, he purchased an enslaved man known as ‘Black Tom’. Around 1768, he returned to Scotland bringing Tom with him as a personal attendant. Dalrymple intended to send Tom back to the West Indies but he fell ill. According to Dalrymple’s account, Tom wanted to help him get better and asked to stay in Scotland, to which he agreed. Prior to being returned to Grenada, Tom requested leave to be baptised, which was granted. He was baptised as David Spens, presumably named after Harry Spens (or Spence) the minister of Wemyss Church, where the baptism took place on 1 September 1769. A record of this baptism is held by the NRS in the Old Parish Registers (NRS, OPR for births in Wemyss, 459/30 page 250). For further guidance about these records, see our guide on church registers.
The next morning, on the day the newly baptised Spens was due to return to the West Indies he took refuge in the home of John Henderson, a local Kirk elder and farmer from nearby Methilhill; identified in Dalrymple’s account as 'a zealous seceder'. Spens and Henderson returned to Dalrymple’s house at Lindifferon, where Spens declared his right to freedom.
Transcript"I am now by the Christian ReligionLiberate and set at freedom frommy old yoke bondage & slaveryand by the Laws of this Christianland there is no Slavery nor vestige of Slavery allowed neverthelessyou take it upon you to exerciseyour old Tyrannical Power overme and would dispose of mearbitrarily at your despotic will &Pleasure and for that end youthreaten to send me abroad outof this Country to the West Indiesand there dispose of me formoney by which you not onlySubvert..."
Dalrymple accused David Spens of 'pia fraus' or pious fraud.
Transcript
"That it now however appearsthat the Conversion and Baptismof this Negro was a Pia Fraus concerted between him and the otherDefender John Henderson who thoughtProper to put it into the Negroeshead that Baptism by the Lawof this Country would emancipatehim from his Servitude..."
Dalrymple proceeded to make a process of declarator to the Court of Session claiming that he had right and title to Spens and to his services. Spens should be returned to him and damages and expenses paid, Spens now being worth sixty pounds. Consequently, both parties were instructed to lodge memorials with the Court of Session. Dalrymple would appear to have done so within a few days of the request and some weeks later complained to the court because Spens and Henderson still hadn't done so.
Dalrymple continued with legal steps, and, suspicious of a plot to remove Spens from the country, petitioned the court for his incarceration. On the 3 March 1770 a court order was served for Spens’ apprehension and the same month Spens was captured and imprisoned in Dysart jail, with security set at £30 for appearance at court.
Transcript
SirDavid Spence or the Negroe Boy wasincarcerate here yesterday by Thomson the Mess[enger]by virtue of an Act of Warrand of the Lords of Sessiondated the third but until he shall find sufficientcaution judicio sisti under the penalty of thirty poundsW[illia]m - The Judge wher caution is found is ordered to sethim at Liberty & to transmit the Bond to Mr Pringle oneof the Clerks of Session. I amSir your most obed[ient] ser[vant]John JamesonClerk of DysartDysart 7 March 1770.
In the second bundle of papers (NRS, CS236/S/3/13) we find a petition and complaint from Spens that on returning from lodging the memorial in Edinburgh, a messenger of the court, Mr Thomson, arrested him and put him in Dysart jail. He alleged that it was a plot by Dalrymple to get him sent out of the country 'by violence' and asked the court to investigate the instructions that were given to the messenger by calling him to court. The thirty pounds caution (bail) required to get Spens out of jail was found by Walter Ferguson and William Chalmers, both writers to the signet (lawyers) in Edinburgh. The evidence from the court papers stops here, and Dalrymple died that year, and Spens gained his freedom by default before the judges had a chance to make a decision.
You can see the papers for the court case in the Historical Search Room at the NRS (NRS, CS236/D/4/3 box 104 and NRS, CS236/S/3/13). They can also be viewed on Virtual Volumes via the NRS' ScotlandsPeople service.
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