Sarah (Sally) Bonnetta Forbes

Originally named Omoba Aina, Sarah Forbes Bonetta was born in 1843 in Oke-Odan, an Egbado village.

In 1848, Oke-Odan was invaded and captured by the Dahomeyan army. Aina's parents died during the attack and other residents were either killed or sold into the Atlantic slave trade.

Aina ended up in the court of King Ghezo as a slave at the age of five. However, two years later, Captain Frederick E. Forbes of the Royal Navy arrived at the Kingdom of Dahomey on a British diplomatic mission to negotiate an end to Dahomey's participation in the Atlantic slave trade.

King Ghezo refused to end Dahomey's slave trade and instead offered Aina as a "gift". 

Captain Forbes accepted her on behalf of Queen Victoria and returned to Britain, with plans for the British government to be responsible for her care.

Captain Forbes renamed her Sara Forbes Bonetta, after his ship HMS Bonetta.  When she arrived in England, at just six years old, she was presented to Queen Victoria, who agreed to become Sarah’s protector. She described Sarah in her journal as "sharp and intelligent and speaking English", noting that she’s dressed as any other girl, but when her bonnet was taken off, that her little black head and big earrings “gave away her negro type.”

The Queen was impressed by the young princess's exceptional intelligence, and had the girl, whom she called Sally, raised as her goddaughter in the British middle class. The Queen paid for Sarah’s education and at 12 years old, she was entrusted to the care of Rev Frederick Scheon and his wife, who lived at Palm Cottage, Canterbury Street, Gillingham. The house still survives today.

In January 1862, she was invited to and attended the wedding of Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Alice.

Sarah married to Captain James Pinson Labulo Davies, and the Queen became the Godmother of their first child, named Victoria..