November 27, 2025
A Northern England town is honoring the Black woman who escaped slavery in the U.S. and settled there in the 1830s.
A statue honoring the “remarkable and brave” woman who escaped slavery in the U.S. has been unveiled in the Northern England town where she found her freedom.
On Nov. 20, a statue of Mary Ann Macham was unveiled at the top of the Riverside Embankment Walkway, overlooking the sea close to where she once lived in North Shields, England, BBC reports. Designed by Keith Barrett, the bronze figure stands as a testament to Macham’s resilience and to Britain’s often-overlooked Black history.
“The story was so amazing I just thought we’ve got to share this more widely,” said Steph Towns, a teacher who came across Macham’s story with her grandmother while they were researching Britain’s role in slavery. “She was just such a remarkable and brave woman.”
“I saw a picture of Mary Ann and, well, that really led us down quite a bit of a trail,” Towns said.
Mary Ann Macham, born in Middlesex County, Virginia, in May 1802, escaped enslavement and torture after weeks hiding in the woods and stowing away on a ship, eventually arriving in North Shields in the early 1830s. A Quaker family took her in, she married a local man, and lived in the town until her death at age 91.
Her account of the escape was recorded by the Spence family, who helped her upon arrival. Years later, Towns discovered her story and shared it on Facebook, catching the attention of Nina Brown, a trustee at North Shields’ Old Low Light Heritage Centre. This led to an exhibition centered on Macham’s story and the placement of a headstone on her previously unmarked grave in Preston Cemetery.
A statue inspired by her life was commissioned by North Tyneside Council, with sculptor Keith Barrett taking great pride in the project as a North Shields native.
“I am very pleased to have been allowed to create this sculpture celebrating the life of Mary Ann Macham,” Barrett said. “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.”
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