First known Black British voter (1774, 1780); his published letters commented on the American War and the hypocrisy of liberty rhetoric alongside slavery.
Begin with Ignatius Sancho, the first known Black British voter, whose letters commented on the American war from this Westminster street. Walk north to the Palace where diplomats — and a Mohawk leader — presented their credentials to the King.
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Directions to next stop
- Head west on Great George Street
- Turn left
- Turn left onto Birdcage Walk
- Turn right
- Turn right
- Turn left
- ... and 15 more steps
Distance: 1.0 km
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Walk: 13 min
The Court of St James's was the formal seat of the British monarchy and the place where foreign ambassadors were received. John Adams presented his credentials here in 1785 as the first American ambassador to Britain.
John Adams presented himself here as the first American ambassador to the Court of St James's — an awkward meeting with the King he had helped overthrow. A decade earlier, Joseph Brant was received by the same king to negotiate the Six Nations alliance. Continue north to Leicester Square.
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Directions to next stop
- Head northeast
- Turn slight right onto Pall Mall
- Turn left onto Marlborough Road
- Turn left
- Turn right onto Pall Mall
- Turn right
- ... and 15 more steps
Distance: 1.2 km
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Walk: 14 min
Approximate area where early American diplomatic representatives lodged in London. After the war, John Adams and other American diplomats operated in the West End while establishing formal diplomatic relations.
Savile House served as a temporary residence for colonial agents and later diplomats navigating London's political world. Head north to Fitzrovia, where Benjamin West became the most celebrated painter in Britain.
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Directions to next stop
- Head southwest on Lisle Street
- Turn right onto Wardour Street
- Turn left
- Turn right
- Turn right
- Turn right
- ... and 6 more steps
Distance: 1.0 km
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Walk: 12 min
Studio and residence of Benjamin West, the Pennsylvania-born painter who became President of the Royal Academy and history painter to George III, creating iconic works depicting the conflicts and figures of the age.
West mentored a generation of American painters from this studio. Walk west to Cavendish Square, where a Mohawk diplomat sat for his most famous portrait.
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Directions to next stop
- Head northwest on Wells Street
- Turn left
- Turn left
- Turn right onto Mortimer Street
- Turn slight right onto Mortimer Street
- Turn slight left
- ... and 12 more steps
Distance: 0.7 km
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Walk: 8 min
Site of George Romney's studio at 32 Cavendish Square where the Mohawk leader Joseph Brant sat for his iconic portrait in March-April 1776. Brant visited London to negotiate Six Nations alliance with Britain -- a diplomatic mission that shaped the war's northern theatre. He met Lord Germain, George III, and James Boswell. The building is demolished but a heritage marker commemorates Romney.
Joseph Brant — Thayendanegea — visited London in 1775-76 to negotiate the Six Nations alliance with Britain. George Romney painted his iconic portrait at 32 Cavendish Square. Brant met Lord Germain, was received by George III, and joined a Masonic lodge. The alliance he secured shaped the war's northern theatre. Walk east to Riding House Street, where another voice from the margins lived.
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Directions to next stop
- Head south on Wigmore Place
- Turn left
- Turn right
- Turn slight right
- Turn left
- Turn right
- ... and 8 more steps
Distance: 0.5 km
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Walk: 6 min
Formerly enslaved man who became a leading abolitionist; published his autobiography at this London address in 1789, documenting slavery and contributing to the abolition movement intertwined with Revolutionary ideals of liberty.
Olaudah Equiano lived in London during the Revolution and published his groundbreaking Narrative in 1789. His activism drew on the same liberty rhetoric that fuelled the American cause — and exposed its contradictions. He later served as commissary for the Black Loyalist settlement in Sierra Leone. Walk west into Mayfair.
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Directions to next stop
- Head south on Middleton Place
- Turn right onto Riding House Street
- Turn left
- Turn left
- Turn right onto Riding House Street
- Turn slight left onto Riding House Street
- ... and 24 more steps
Distance: 1.4 km
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Walk: 17 min
Residence of John and Abigail Adams when he served as the first American Minister to the Court of St James's; Abigail's letters provide vivid accounts of American diplomacy in a hostile London and their frosty reception at Court.
Adams navigated post-war diplomacy from this square — the American diplomatic presence in London since his day. End the walk nearby at Hertford Street, where a defeated British general lived out his days.
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Directions to next stop
- Head west on Grosvenor Square
- Keep left onto Grosvenor Square
- Continue straight onto Grosvenor Square
- Turn left
- Turn right
- Turn right
- ... and 25 more steps
Distance: 1.0 km
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Walk: 12 min
London home of General John Burgoyne, who surrendered to the Americans at Saratoga in 1777 and returned here to face parliamentary inquiry. He lived in this Robert Adam-designed house from 1769 until his death in 1792.
Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga and returned to London a broken commander — yet reinvented himself as a successful playwright. His transformation reflects how the war's losers rebuilt their lives in the capital. A fitting end to this tour of American voices — Indigenous, African, European, American — all living in Georgian London.
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