The Chocolate Boy

his is a tale of England about two hundred and fifty years
ago. At that time there was a fashion for black page-boys and
footmen, who were brought in as slaves from the West Indies.
It was not until 1772, in the reign of King George III, that a
judge said it was against the law to keep slaves in England,
and they were all declared free. By then there were 14,000 of
them, many in London, but not all.
Goose Fair is still held every year in Nottingham and in
1766 there was a famous ‘“‘cheese riot’, broken up by the
Dragoons. Castle Gate is a real street and there are a few
elegant old houses left among the shops and offices, like the
one Sarah’s aunt lived in. And there really are caves and rock
cellars cut out below the buildings. St Nicholas’s, once called
“the drawing-room church’’, is still there, near the gateway to
the castle.