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Joseph Allicocke (alternatively Joseph Allicock or Allicoke) was an American colonist possibly of mixed African and European descent, and an early leader of the Sons of Liberty during the protests against the Stamp Act of 1765.

Biography

Allicocke's origins are uncertain. Some records say that he was the son of an Antiguan, likely Captain Syer Allicocke, though in later life he himself claimed to hail from Ireland. Most interesting is the record of Capt. John Montresor who, in his journals from the 1760s, noted Allicocke to be 'son of a mulatto woman'. It remains unclear whether this was an unfounded rumor being repeated by Montresor, his own spurious assumption - perhaps based on Allicocke's Antiguan origins - or in fact true and simple common knowledge no one else felt worth writing down. Likely being born in Antigua, he was sent from there to Philadelphia for schooling, and certainly, he was living and working in New York City as a clerk and merchant by the early 1760s, where he became involved with the New York Liberty Boys in 1765, and quickly rose to a leadership position alongside John Lamb and Isaac Sears. There, he participated in negotiations with the New Haven Sons of Liberty. With the success of the protests and the overturning of the Stamp Act in 1766, Allicocke was honored with a 21 gun salute and the honorific titling of "general of the Sons of Liberty."

In 1774, he accepted the position of Secretary for the New York Committee of Correspondence, but voluntarily resigned from the position soon after. He continued to do business with British military agents through 1775 which caused charges to be brought against him. Although acquitted, the Congress finding that "e had supplied such Provisions inadvertently, and without any design to injure the Country", he nevertheless was briefly forced to flee the city to Antigua in early 1776. A year later however, he had returned to now British occupied New York City where he served as with the Chamber of Commerce and as Secretary of the United Whaling Co., and identified as a Loyalist.

The reasons for Allicocke's Loyalist allegiance remain shrouded. Donald A. Grinde, Jr., in his work on Allicocke, believed Montresor's description of partial African ancestry to be genuine, and thus sees the possibility that Allicocke's choice was in part driven by racial views, and the belief that the British offered a better future for him as a black man. J.S. Tiedmann, however, more cautious about accepting Montresor's claim as fact, points to Allicocke's increasing social standing through the 1760s, and connections with the powerful De Lancey family which may have helped distance him from the politics of his Liberty Boy days. Regardless of the true cause, by the time of the British evacuation of New York City on November 25, 1783, Allicocke had left the city.

Later years

Following his flight from the newly created United States, Allicocke headed for England, setting himself up as a wine merchant in London by 1785.

On July 8, 1811, his wife Martha died and was buried in Southampton, England. On March 7, 1815, he died and was buried beside her.

Family

Allicocke married Martha Jardine on January 31, 1760. She was the daughter of Charles Jardine, a New Yorker of Huguenot ancestry. Her sister Catherine had previously married John Lamb, later one of Allicocke's co-leaders in the Sons of Liberty, in 1755. They had a large family of ten children, which Allicocke would describe as "expensive". His son Charles John served as a lieutenant of cavalry with the South Carolina Royalists during the war.

References

1. Howell, Frances B. (1897). The book of John Howell & his descendants: With supplementary accounts of the families related to them by marriage. New York: Frances Howell – via Hathi Trust.
2. Leake, Isaac Q. (1850). Memoir of the life and times of General John Lamb. Albany, NY: Joel Munsell. pp. 36. OL 6536040M.
3. ^ Tiedemann, Joseph S. (2008-08-21). Reluctant Revolutionaries: New York City and the Road to Independence, 1763-1776. Cornell University Press. pp. 168–170. ISBN 9780801474958.
4. Montresor, James Gabriel (1881). The Montresor Journals. New York Historical Society. p. 368 – via Archive.org.
5. McAnear, Beverly (1940-01-01). "The Place of the Freeman in Old New York". New York History. 21 (4): 418–430. JSTOR 23134736.
6. Friedman, Bernard (1983-01-01). "Hugh Hughes, A Study in Revolutionary Idealism". New York History. 64 (3): 229–259. JSTOR 23174178.
7. ^ Grinde Jr., Donald A. (July 31, 1990). "Joseph Allicocke: African-American Leader of the Sons of Liberty". Afro - Americans in New York Life and History. 41 (2) – via ProQuest.
8. ^ Maier, Pauline (1992). From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 1765-1776. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 303, 312. ISBN 978-0393308259.
9. Egerton, Douglas R. (2009). Death or Liberty: African Americans and Revolutionary America. USA: Oxford University Press. pp. 46. ISBN 9780195306699.
10. "Joseph Allicock and Captain Charles De Kay examined before the Congress". American Archives: Documents of the American Revolutionary Period, 1774-1776. August 26, 1775.
11. New York Chamber of Commerce (1913). Earliest arbitration records of the Chamber of commerce of the state of New York, founded in 1768. Committee minutes, 1779-1792, printed from original manuscript in the New York Public library, with biographical and other notes. New York: Press of the Chamber – via Hathi Trust.
12. ^ Stevens Jr., John Austin (1867). Colonial records of the New York Chamber of commerce, 1768-1784; With historical and biographical sketches. New York: J.F. Trow and Co. – via Hathi Trust.
13. USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Biography Database, 1680-1830. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England: Avero Publications, 1998.
14. Continental Congress - Papers Intercepted Letters - British, 1775 - 1781 Vol 1, Page 548-551
15. England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.
16. Lorenzo Sabine (1847-01-01). The American Loyalists: Or, Biographical Sketches of Adherents to the ... C.C. Little and J. Brown. pp. 122.

• American civil rights activists
• Activists from New York City
• Loyalists in the American Revolution from New York (state)