Quamina Gladstone was an African-born enslaved man in British Demerara (modern-day Guyana) whose religious leadership and moral authority placed him at the center of one of the most significant slave uprisings in British colonial history. A carpenter by trade and a Christian deacon by conviction, Quamina was killed by British soldiers during the suppression of the Demerara Rebellion of 1823, despite repeatedly urging peace and restraint.
Quamina was born around 1778 in West Africa, in what is now Ghana, most likely among the Akan people, specifically the Fante subgroup, a society with its own moral codes, spirituality, and social order. Like countless others, that life was shattered when he and his mother were captured and sold into slavery as a child.
Transported across the Atlantic to Demerara, Quamina entered a colony built entirely on sugar, violence, and forced labor. His African name was stripped of meaning, replaced by the surname Gladstone, taken from the absentee British slave owner Sir John Gladstone.
Quamina grew up enslaved on the Success plantation, learning carpentry, a skilled trade that made him valuable but never free. His mother died enslaved in 1817, another life erased quietly by plantation society.
In 1808, Quamina began attending services at Bethel Chapel, a mission church established by the London Missionary Society. Christianity was tolerated by planters only so long as it produced obedience. What they underestimated was what Christianity could become when enslaved Africans learned to read it for themselves.
Under missionary guidance, Quamina learned to read and write. This alone was dangerous. Literacy meant access to ideas beyond plantation discipline. Scripture introduced concepts of justice, accountability, and human dignity that clashed sharply with slavery.
Quamina embraced Christianity deeply. He was baptized, became disciplined and respected, and eventually rose to become a deacon, a position of spiritual leadership rarely entrusted to an enslaved man. He was trusted by missionaries, admired by fellow slaves, and consulted regularly on church affairs. Over time, his influence extended far beyond the chapel.
But faith did not protect him from cruelty. He was beaten severely by his masters, sometimes worked until exhaustion, and was often denied permission to attend church. When his long-time partner Peggy fell gravely ill, he was forced to continue working. She died alone while he was away in the fields.
As a Christian deacon, he used religion not to enforce obedience but to support enslaved people’s belief that they were entitled to justice, dignity, and improved conditions. By teaching and interpreting Christianity among the enslaved, Quamina helped expose the contradiction between Christian morality and plantation slavery.
By the early 1820s, rumors spread across Demerara that Britain had ordered emancipation or at least major reforms, and that colonial authorities were deliberately suppressing the news. These rumors were fueled by real debates taking place in Britain, where abolitionist pressure was growing.
Quamina was deeply troubled. As a Christian, he struggled with the contradiction of a supposedly moral empire built on chains. He spoke to missionaries about these rumors and raised questions among other enslaved Christians.
Importantly, Quamina did not preach violence. On the contrary, he consistently argued for restraint. He believed that if enslaved people acted, it should be through peaceful resistance, not bloodshed. His vision was a work stoppage, a collective refusal to cooperate, grounded in moral legitimacy.
His son, Jack Gladstone, was more militant. Jack became a key organizer among the enslaved, and thousands looked to him for leadership. But even as tensions rose, Quamina continued urging discipline and nonviolence.
The Demerara Rebellion of 1823
In August 1823, events spiraled beyond control. Thousands of enslaved Africans across Demerara rose up, believing freedom was being unjustly denied. Plantations were seized, managers detained, and labor halted.
Contrary to colonial propaganda, the rebellion was largely nonviolent. White families were imprisoned but not killed. The aim was leverage, not revenge.
British troops responded with overwhelming force.
Although Quamina had been arrested shortly before the uprising, he was freed as chaos spread. He never armed himself and actively protected plantation officials from harm. None of this mattered. To the colonial mind, Quamina was more dangerous than armed men. He was a religious authority who had helped enslaved people believe their cause was morally justified.
After a decisive battle crushed the rebels, a brutal manhunt followed. Rewards were offered for Quamina, Jack, and others labeled “ringleaders.”
Jack Gladstone was captured in early September 1823. Quamina remained at large for days, hiding in the fields and forests.
On 16 September 1823, British soldiers found him near Chateau Margo. Accounts state that he refused to surrender. He was shot dead on the spot.
His body was then hung in chains beside a public road, directly in front of the plantation where he had lived and worked. It was a deliberate act of terror, meant to show enslaved Africans what awaited those who challenged the system.
The Demerara Rebellion was notable for its low number of white deaths, evidence that it was largely nonviolent in intent. Plantation owners and their families were imprisoned but not harmed. In contrast, hundreds of enslaved people were killed in battles, executions, or brutal reprisals.
Jack Gladstone was sold and deported to Saint Lucia.
The rebellion shocked Britain. Reports of the harsh retaliation, particularly the killing of religious figures like Quamina, intensified public opposition to slavery and hastened the abolitionist movement. Less than fifteen years later, slavery was abolished across the British Empire.
Quamina Gladstone is today honored as a national hero of Guyana. After independence, Murray Street in Georgetown was renamed Quamina Street, replacing the name of the colonial governor in charge during the rebellion. A monument stands at the junction of Quamina and Carmichael Streets, and his image appears in a mural in the dome of the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry building.
Sources:
https://blackpast.org/global-african-history/demerara-rebellion-1823/
Quamina – Guyana National Hero: involved in the Demerara rebellion of 1823
