Explore Your Archive: Henry Jetto
- 21st November 2016
The earliest-known black person in Worcestershire whose name we know is believed to be Henry Antonie Jetto. The first reference to him is in a parish register dating back to the late 16th century. The discovery was made by his 11x great-grandson whilst tracing his family history at the Worcestershire History Centre before we moved to The Hive. His descendant, Mr Bluck stated “He is referred to as a ‘blackamor’ which at that time meant a black person, and I believe he had an adult baptism into the Christian faith at 26 as ordered by his master.”
Mr Jetto was baptised in Holt in 1596, and was a gardener to Sir Henry Bromley of Holt Castle. Mr Jetto was also buried at Holt in 1627. Mr Jetto was wealthy enough to leave a will when he died and left goods to the value of £17 15s 8d. It has also been discovered that he had the right to vote, and may be the earliest identifiable Back man who had this right, 200 years before other known examples.
will of Henry Jetto
Henry Jetto was included in an episode of Not Just The Tudors podcast, which looked at Black people in Tudor Britain. Dr. Onyeka Nubia had looked further into Henry’s story, and met several descendants.
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