Samuel Samo was a
Dutch slave trader who was the first person to be prosecuted under the
British Slave Trade Felony Act 1811.
Samuel Samo was the uncle of John Samo, a Dutch shopkeeper who served as King's Advocate and Member of His Majesty's Colonial Council of Sierra Leone. Samo was also a colleague of
William Henry Leigh. On one voyage, 500 Africans died.
Samo was based in the
Îles de Los, a group of islands of
Conakry
Conakry (; ; sus, Kɔnakiri; N’ko: ߞߐߣߊߞߙߌ߫, Fula: ''Konaakiri'' 𞤑𞤮𞤲𞤢𞥄𞤳𞤭𞤪𞤭) is the capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its p ...
in modern-day
Guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
.
He was seized along with Charles Hickson from there in early 1812 and taken to
Freetown,
Sierra Leone to be put on trial.
The trial was held under the auspices of the
Vice admiralty court in
Sierra Leone.
was the presiding
judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
.
Samo was charged with five counts of slave-trading between August 1811 and January 1812.
Samo was convicted but given a
royal pardon
In the English and British tradition, the royal prerogative of mercy is one of the historic royal prerogatives of the British monarch, by which they can grant pardons (informally known as a royal pardon) to convicted persons. The royal preroga ...
by Governor
Charles William Maxwell.
The convict was enjoined to never again engage in slave trading.
Two other slave traders were convicted in Sierra Leone between April and June 1812. William Tufft was sentenced to three years of hard labour, and Joseph Peters was sentenced to 7 years of
transportation.
References
{{crime-bio-stub
Dutch slave traders
Dutch mass murderers
19th-century Dutch businesspeople
Dutch people imprisoned abroad
Recipients of British royal pardons
Prisoners and detainees of the United Kingdom