In this section
Press releases
- Plans approved to create new London Museum and regenerate Smithfield
- From DJ sets to late-night cinema Museum of London announces blockbuster festival weekends to close London Wall
- fabric to become world’s first nightclub-in-residence in a Museum
- Major new Museum of London Docklands exhibition uncovers London’s 700 year history of public executions
- 15-year-old Londoner takes over city bus stops as winner announced of Museum of London, BBC 100 & TfL poetry competition
- Museum of London unveils Greatest Hits mural to celebrate 45 years at London Wall
- Museum of London marks 100 days to closure with free event and giveaways for visitors
- Museum of London raises a further £7 million towards its new home at West Smithfield
- Museum of London celebrates 45 years at London Wall as it commences countdown to closure
- Sunil Gupta’s ‘Pretended’ Family Relationships photo series acquired by the Museum of London
- Putin’s Happy – Museum of London acquires Jeremy Deller film revealing a divided country and a city full of protest
- The Museum of London celebrates city's sporting hero with new display on Harry Kane
- The Museum of London presents 'Grime Stories: from the corner to the mainstream', opening 17 June 2022
- Joe Corré, Jordan and Richard Boon to appear in an uncensored, live Punk.London debate
- 300 year old love message embroidered in human hair to go on display at the Museum of London Docklands
- Museum of London begins countdown to West Smithfield relocation
- Douglas Gilmore appointed Managing Director of Museum of London Docklands
- New research to shed fresh light on the impact of industrialisation
- The Prince of Wales becomes Museum of London Patron
- The Clash’s Paul Simonon’s famous Fender Precision bass to go on display
- Behind the Scenes of the Museum of London
- Stanton Williams and Asif Khan to design new Museum of London at West Smithfield
- Museum of London acquires ensemble inspired by the creativity of the Windrush generation
- Feeding Black: Community, Power & Place opening 16 July at Museum of London Docklands
- Museum of London acquires NHS sign from ZSL London Zoo’s Giraffe House as part of Collecting COVID
- Museum of London sites set to reopen 19 May with extensions of Dub London: Bassline of a City and Havering Hoard: A Bronze Age Mystery
- Museum of London acquires Mayor of Lambeth’s homemade ceremonial chain as part of Collecting COVID project
- Museum of London acquires ‘viral’ Tweets for Collecting COVID
- Weavers’ Company donate £100,000 to the Museum of London’s move to Smithfield
- Museum of London receives Trump Baby blimp ahead of the Presidential Inauguration
- Museum of London to collect COVID dreams
- Arsenal’s captain donates Black Lives Matter shirt to the Museum of London
- Dub London: Bassline of a City opening 2 October at the Museum of London
- Public statement October 2020
- London Sugar & Slavery gallery
- New major exhibition Havering Hoard: A Bronze Age Mystery opens 11 September at the Museum of London Docklands
- Robert Milligan statue statement
- Museum of London sites to reopen 6 August with four-week extension of The Clash: London Calling display
- Public statement
- Museum of London releases first ever recorded soundscapes of London alongside new recordings of London in lockdown as part of Collecting COVID project
- Design concepts for new museum at West Smithfield revealed
- The Museum of London collects shared experiences of Ramadan in lockdown as part of Collecting COVID project
- Unheard oral histories are released by the Museum of London to mark Windrush Day
- Collecting Covid: the Museum of London seeks to mark unprecedented pandemic for the future
- Millicent Fawcett’s ‘Steadfastness and Courage’ brooch to go on permanent display for the first time
- Museum of London submits plans to create a new world-class cultural destination in West Smithfield
- King Charles I’s execution vest to go on display in new major exhibition
- Museum of London to celebrate Dub Reggae and its influence on the capital
- East End bastion Syd’s coffee stall to be donated to the Museum of London
- Free exhibit celebrating the making of The Clash’s ground-breaking album ‘London Calling’ now open
- Museum of London acquires extremely rare plate that belonged to Samuel Pepys
- The story of the Krios of Sierra Leone to be told in the Museum of London Docklands’ latest display
- Museum of London to host The Clash: London Calling exclusive free exhibit of over 100 personal items
- The largest ever Bronze Age hoard in London has been discovered
- Designs for Museum of London’s new West Smithfield home revealed
- Smithfield Street Party
- Museum of London hopes to acquire both the Trump Baby Blimp and the Sadiq Khan Blimp as part of their permanent collection
- Secret Rivers
- Beasts of London
- Recently acquired panorama goes on display for the first time at the Museum of London
- Museum of London appoints leading names to Board of Governors
- Earliest skull ever mudlarked from the Thames to go on display at the Museum of London
- Museum of London acquires beautiful panorama of lost Houses of Parliament
- Bengali arts and culture on show at the Museum of London Docklands family festival.
- Bonus Levels: Artist Lawrence Lek invites viewers to re-imagine future London
- Young Londoners to take over Museum of London this March
- The Museum of London hopes to acquire Whitechapel 'fatberg'
- Treasured children’s author Jacqueline Wilson’s latest book Wave Me Goodbye inspires family day at the Museum of London Docklands
- The City is Ours: A Tale of New Cities
- Adventures in Peter Pan’s Neverland at Museum of London Docklands
- Photography of Londoners and their pastimes on show at Museum of London
- Tracking London’s most talked about topics and emojis
- London Nights: Museum of London unveils the city at night in major photography exhibition
- Museum of London Docklands celebrates Chinese New Year this February half term
- Statement on 20 May 2017
- Whitechapel’s famous monster fatberg is coming to the Museum of London
- Museum of London Docklands to showcase rare Roman sarcophagus in first public display
- Malcolm Reading Consultants appointed to run West Smithfield International Design Competition
- 8,000 years of human history on display at the Museum of London Docklands
- An Idea for a Future London open call winner announced
- Five Museum of London apprentices appointed
- London Visions: Hypothetical scenarios of a future London
- “Reputational whitewashing” investigated in latest display at the Museum of London Docklands.
- Rare George Cross medal goes on display at the Museum of London Docklands
- Museum of London displays recently acquired Sutherland drawings in new exhibition of Blitz artwork
- What does the future hold for London and cities around the world?
- Mayor of London and City of London Corporation pledge support for new Museum of London at West Smithfield
- Smithfield street party: Museum of London celebrates 150 years of Smithfield markets
- Museum of London uses Minecraft to recreate the Great Fire of 1666
- Museum of London releases third and final Great Fire 1666 Minecraft map
- Taste not waste: Be inspired by unique recipes using your leftover food for a more sustainable future London
- Museum of London opens most theatrical exhibition ever to mark 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London
- Museum of London acquires 100 menswear items worn by townscape consultant Francis Golding
- Votes for Women programme
- Technology replacing jobs won’t halt our working spirit
- Rare Victoria Cross with mysterious story to go on display at the Museum of London
- New display at the Museum of London traces the capital’s obsession with ice skating
- Rare tools give insight into working lives of Roman Londoners at the Museum of London
- New display reveals complex history of British Army’s West India Regiments
- Historic vessels Knocker White and Varlet set sail to new home at Trinity Buoy Wharf
- Missing Bake Off? Take your taste buds back in time with 17th century gingerbread
- Paddington returns to Museum of London
- Learn how to code like a pro and celebrate digital technology at the Museum of London’s free family festival
- 17th century fire engine restored for Great Fire exhibition
- Museum of London boosts Great Fire collections with mysterious manuscript
- Major new gallery at Museum of London Docklands explores history of the world's largest docks
- Sir Edward Lister joins Museum of London Board of Governors
- West Smithfield Design Competition shortlist announced
- Museum of London bolsters its art collections
- West Smithfield International Design Competition launched
- Another record-breaking year for the Museum of London
- After dark at The Night Museum
- New display about the life of ‘The Royal African’ and the slave trade
- Statue of Robert Milligan joins Museum of London collection
- Our statement on Fabric
- People of Punk bring the year of celebration to an end
- Tunnel: the archaeology of Crossrail
- Museum of London to make 5,000 stories from the capital available to the public for the first time
- The Museum of London Docklands announces major exhibition with public call out to find iconic pieces of fashion history
- Trump Baby Blimp undergoes test inflation
- Museum of London Docklands launches the Dodger family trail, based on BAFTA-winning BBC TV series, Dodger
- Museum of London Docklands announces Indo + Caribbean: The creation of a culture
- Young Londoners push for a more sustainable city in Museum of London report
- Museum of London Docklands announces street party to mark its 20th anniversary, with Vanity Milan, star of Ru Paul’s Drag Race, to headline
- Museum of London formally appoints Sir Robert McAlpine as Construction Management Company on Smithfield project
- Rare Festival of Britain sculpture discovered in London garden will join Museum of London collection
- Jennifer Francis appointed Director of External Affairs at Museum of London
- Museum of London announces acquisition of major sports collecting project, including Wimbledon oral histories
- Coats worn by Princess Diana and Dot Cotton to go on display as part of a major new exhibition
- Bridget Banton and Samir Patel join Museum of London Board of Governors
- Museum of London issues public call for iconic signs from across the capital
- First witness to the Great Fire of London uncovered
- Opening Friday 13 October – Fashion City: How Jewish Londoners shaped global style at Museum of London Docklands
- Foundation stone unveiled for the new London Museum as principal construction works begin
- New research finds Black women of African descent more likely to die of medieval plague
- Rare tie discovered in charity shop goes on display in London fashion exhibition
- Museum of London Docklands launches new display in collaboration with Mind and Taking Shape Association
- Acclaimed Fashion City exhibition extended to 7 July 2024 with free student ticket offer for April and May
The story of the Krios of Sierra Leone to be told in the Museum of London Docklands’ latest display
5 Sep 2019
The Krios of Sierra Leone
Museum of London Docklands
Fri 27 Sep 2019 – Sun 27 Sep 2020
FREE
A new display at the Museum of London Docklands will explore the unique and largely untold history, heritage and culture of the Krio people of Sierra Leone.
As well as the history, The Krios of Sierra Leone display will explore dress, architecture, language, lifestyle and tradition of the Krio community through a mix of contemporary objects from Krio Londoners as well as objects related to British colonial rule in Sierra Leone from the museum’s collections. Together, this will highlight the rich heritage of the people and the diversity of cultures brought to Sierra Leone that became uniquely Krio.
Key objects on display include:
• Tillet block (a large carved wooden printing block) dating from around 1800 that bears the crest of the Sierra Leone Company. The company attempted to found a colony in Sierra Leone in 1792 and abolitionists such as William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp were among its subscribers.
• Silver entrée dish presented to Thomas Cole, Acting Colonial Secretary of Sierra Leone and Assistant Superintendent of Liberated Africans, by the Officers of the Liberated African Department. Cole was responsible for assisting those who arrived in the colony after being freed from captured slave ships. (On loan from Charles Stuart Dudley Cole)
• Krio dress ensemble showing the typical cultural embroidered dress (‘Kabaslᴐt’) worn by Krio women. The dress is thought to be a combination of 19th century Victorian dress with adaptations from Americans and Maroons and has a lace petticoat underneath.
The ‘Krios’ are descended from ex-enslaved African American, Caribbean, African and free peoples who settled in the Western Area of Sierra Leone. The first settlers sent to Sierra Leone by the British were of Black American, African, Caribbean and Bengali descent and were known collectively as the ‘Black Poor’. A noticeable community in East London, the Black Poor suffered from acute poverty and in 1786 the ‘Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor’ was formed as a response. Initially operating as a group that provided relief in the form of food and monetary allowance, their focus soon turned to a resettlement scheme and by 1787 a ship had set sail for the ‘Province of Freedom’; also known as Sierra Leone.
Upon arrival, the settlers established ‘Granville Town’ on the peninsula of Sierra Leone but the project failed after two years due to outbreaks of disease as well as conflicts and hostility between the settlers and the surrounding Temne community. A second attempt at a British colony, led by the newly formed Sierra Leone Company, was more successful and involved the resettlement of approximately 1200 ‘Nova Scotians’. These settlers - mainly ex-enslaved Americans who fought for the British during the American Revolution – arrived in 1792 and established ‘Freetown’ which remains the capital of Sierra Leone to this day. The Maroons (from Jamaica) and ‘Liberated Africans’ (freed from slave ships) soon followed in the early part of the 19th century and collectively make up the heritage of the Krio people.
The resettlement wasn’t without controversy. The motives behind the scheme were much debated and still are today but its ties to the slave trade are undeniable. From its origins in transatlantic slavery through to the involvement of prominent abolitionists, the story of the Krio ties in to the wider themes of the permanent London, Sugar & Slavery gallery where the display is to be held. This is central not just to the story of the museum’s building and the surrounding docks but to the story of London itself.
Melissa Bennett, Higher Education Programme Manager at Museum of London, said:
“The story of the Krio people of Sierra Leone has been largely overlooked in the history books but is of huge significance when looking at the story of not only the museum and the surrounding Docks, but of migration and the slave trade in London. It connects the shared histories of London, the US, the Caribbean and West Africa and we’ve worked closely with some members of the Krio community to draw out the personal stories, memories and objects that help shed light on this part of our shared heritage.”
Iyamide Thomas, Historical Researcher and founder member of The Krios Dot Com, said:
“The Krios share a unique heritage that is celebrated in our culture and traditions, reflecting the diversity within our community. As a member of the Krio community, I am proud to be working with the Museum of London Docklands to highlight the history and legacy of the Krio people to help bring into focus our connection to the city of London and the wider Atlantic world”
Further information: www.museumoflondon.org.uk/krios
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Notes for editors
For more press information please contact Wesley Shearer, PR & Marketing Officer at the Museum of London Docklands on 020 7001 9809/ 07966 367 706 or [email protected]
About the Museum of London Docklands
For more press information please contact Wesley Shearer, PR & Marketing Officer at the Museum of London Docklands on 020 7001 9809/ 07966 367 706 or [email protected]
About the Museum of London Docklands
The Museum of London Docklands is located at West India Quay in east London. Opened in 2003, this grade one listed converted Georgian sugar warehouse specifically tells the story of the port, river and city – focusing on trade, migration and commerce in London.
The museum is open daily 10am – 6pm and is FREE to all, and you can explore the Museum of London Docklands with collections online – home to 90,000 objects with more added regularly. www.museumoflondon.org.uk
About The Krios Dot Com
The Krios Dot Com (TKDC) is a small constituted group of Krio individuals dedicated to documenting and celebrating the history, culture and heritage of the ‘Krios’ as a resource for scholars, historians and anyone interested in the Krios.