PREMIERE: House on James Street: Episode one - Intrepid Fighter for Religious Freedom

20 min · 28 apr 2026

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Before Barbados had universal adult suffrage, before slavery was abolished in the British Empire, and before religious freedom was protected by law, a free coloured woman in Bridgetown did something dangerously simple: she opened her front door. In Episode One – “An Intrepid Fighter for Religious Freedom” – House on James Street introduces the life and times of the Right Excellent Sarah Ann Gill. We meet Ann Gill as a free coloured woman of property in early 19th‑century Bridgetown, whose home on James Street becomes a sanctuary for persecuted Methodists after white mobs destroy the island’s Methodist chapel and drive out the minister. Drawing on the research of the late historian Professor Pedro Welch, this opening episode peels back the myths to reveal a more complex figure: a devoted Methodist and National Hero who was also part of a free coloured world shaped by slavery, race and property. We set the scene for the series by tracing how Gill’s year under siege – facing threats, gunfire, and legal harassment under the old Conventicle Act – would eventually echo all the way to the Colonial Office in London and the floor of the British Parliament. This episode lays the groundwork for the journey ahead: from the making of a slave society to the rise of a free coloured community, and from a front room on James Street to the heart of imperial power.

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PREMIERE: House on James Street: Episode one - Intrepid Fighter for Religious Freedom

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