
This history note represents a bit of a mystery. The small pearlware child's plate, measuring only 4.5" across, has a transfer printed message that would have likely been immediately recognizable to anyone in the early 19th century: "May ignorance no longer reign/Henceforth the Heathen shall proclaim His Makers love--and bless the name of Billy." Who was Billy?
Some internet sleuthing found similar examples in the British Museum, Winterthur Museum, and in a private collection. Funny thing is, the other examples have "My Bible" in place of "My Billy." All of the extant examples feature a dark-skinned figure, kneeling on one knee with a group of people behind him and a structure next to him that looks like a podium.

This author's example, in addition to the name substitution, also has several other modifications; the kneeling figure is wearing a hat, and holding a long staff over his head (the transfer print was also thorough enough to create a shadow on the ground for the staff).
Finding the author of the verse was relatively easy--it had been credited to children's author Mary Belson Elliott, published by William Darton in 1816. "My Bible" might have been adapted from an earlier version called "My Mother" written by Ann Taylor, published in an anthology in 1804-5, also by William Darton. The theme may have had roots in missionary work, as it urges the child to learn the bible, but Darton was a Quaker, so the message might also have been one of anti-slavery.

So what about the modifications on our plate? The cap resembles a Liberty cap. The predecessor of the Liberty cap was the Phrygian cap which was familiar to ancient Romans. The original Roman cap was the pileus, a felt cap worn by emancipated slaves. The Liberty cap came to represent liberty in the American Revolution, and later in the French Revolution. You may have seen a Liberty pole at museums such as Historic Deerfield, and the Liberty cap appears on the seal of the U. S. Senate and on coins such as the Seated Liberty Dollar.

The cap and staff appears in needlework and painted depictions of the United States as represented by the figure of Columbia. The print titled "Liberty, in the form of the goddess of youth, giving support to the bald eagle" was engraved and painted by Edward Savage (1761-1817) around 1796.

It seems likely that this plate, made decades after slavery was abolished in England, might have been made for the American abolitionist market. Many items were sold at fairs and other events to support the cause of Abolition. Could "My Billy" refer to well-know abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison? Garrison (1805-1879) was born in Newburyport, MA, and was interested in suffrage as well as abolition of slavery. He established the anti-slavery newspaper, The Liberator in 1831. Longmeadow had several home-grown abolitionists, including two descendants of the Reverend Richard Salter Storrs--Charles Backus Storrs and the Reverend Richard Salter Storrs, II.
- Contributed by Betsy McKee, Longmeadow Historical Society Board Member.
Sources include:
The British Museum, The Chipstone Foundation, "Ceramics in America:" Antislavery Ceramics 1787-1865, by Sam Margolin, Library of Congress, Historic Deerfield, eBay (image of 1868 dollar).
Associate Curator Dan Sousa of Historic Deerfield was also consulted.
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