William Clevland (king)

William Clevland (1720 – 6 December 1758) was an Anglo-Scot who became the self-appointed King of the Banana Islands off the coast of present-day Sierra Leone.

William Clevland was the son of Commodore William Clevland, a Scotsman who settled at Tapeley Park, near Bideford, Devon. His brother was John Clevland, who was appointed as Secretary of the Admiralty.

In the 1730s Clevland was working for the Royal African Society, which had a monopoly on trade at Sierra Leone. He was on board a slave ship that was wrecked off the Banana Islands. He and surviving African slaves made their way to the islands, which they settled. Clevland took power and named himself as king.

He had three children: By Kate Corker, daughter of King Skinner Corker:

By Ndamba, a Kissi woman. Their Eurafrican children included:

Both Elizabeth and James were sent to England for his education.

John succeeded his father as sovereign of the Banana Islands, but died in 1764. He was in then succeeded by James Cleveland.

In this period, the British had a trading post at the mouth of the Sierra Leone River and by 1792 had established a colony of freedmen at Freetown.

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