A new statue honoring Mary Ann Macham, a woman who fled slavery in the U.S. and began a new life in North Shields in northern England, has been installed in the heart of the fishing town.
The bronze sculpture was created by North Shields-based artist Keith Barrett and it stands at the top of the Riverside Embankment Walkway, near where Mary Ann once lived.
Mary Ann hid in woods in Virginia for weeks after escaping slavery and abuse on a Virginia plantation, before stowing away on a ship and ultimately arriving in North Shields in the early 1830s. History says she made it to North Shields on Christmas Day 1831, where she was welcomed by the Spence family, a well-known Quaker family who have been speaking against slavery and demanding its abolition. Mary Ann went on to marry a local man and thrived in the town thanks to the support she received from the local community. She died at 91.
Before her death, she narrated how she escaped slavery, and the Spence family wrote down the account.
Born in Middlesex County in May 1802, Mary Ann’s father was the son of an estate owner and her mother was one of those enslaved by them.
She was raised by an aunt who later died and by just 12 years old, Mary Ann was sold by a relative and sent to a farm with 200 other slaves. She was abused several times while on the farm for 17 years before she managed to escape and hid for weeks while enslavers searched for her.
Thankfully, a network of people who helped slaves escape smuggled her on to a boat heading to the Netherlands and then to North Shields via Grimsby, Hull and York, BBC reported.
Teacher Steph Towns came across her story while researching Britain’s role in slavery. “I saw a picture of Mary Ann and, well, that really led us down quite a bit of a trail.”
Towns researched Mary Ann’s story and wrote about it on social media. Nina Brown, a trustee at North Shields’s Old Low Light Heritage Centre, read the post and was fascinated by it.
“The story was so amazing I just thought we’ve got to share this more widely,” she said to BBC, adding, “she was just such a remarkable and brave woman”.
Brown helped organize an exhibition at the center that focused on Mary Ann’s story before a headstone on her unmarked grave in the town’s Preston Cemetery was erected.
To further honor her, a statue inspired by her story was commissioned by North Tyneside Council.
Mayor of North Tyneside Karen Clark said: “Mary Ann’s story is one of extraordinary courage, and it’s right that we honour her legacy in the heart of the town she came to call home.
“This sculpture is a powerful symbol of resilience and community support, values that are still at the heart of North Tyneside today. I’m proud to unveil this artwork as part of our North Shields 800 celebrations, and I hope it inspires reflection and pride in our shared history.”
Barrett also said of the statue. “It has been particularly important to me because North Shields is my home town, and I feel honoured to be able to mark the bravery and insistence on freedom shown by Mary Ann, and the compassion and support for human rights and justice displayed by the Quaker community in North Shields, and all those towns people who enabled her to settle and marry, and live out the rest of her life in safety and freedom.
“I believe that Mary Ann’s story will resonate with the lives and experience of many of us, and wish that she may become a source of inspiration and hope to all who struggle through difficult and dark times, that their chains can be broken and their freedom found.”
