ABSTRACT
Two obituaries of Yorke appeared in the Gentleman’s Magazine, in 1794 recording death on the French battlefield, and in 1813 correctly. They represented Yorke’s two significant political identities, first as the revolutionary radical and second as the erudite loyalist political writer and gentleman. Yorke was always something of an Enlightenment thinker and Romantic activist. They also illustrate the uncertainties, contradictions, and absences in Yorke’s story.
A brief genealogical study of Yorke’s family reveals a desire for assimilation for his children which was achieved through the generations. His descendants gained recognition and positions in politics and society that he had not achieved. Through marriage with white and/or wealthy families in England, the Yorkes followed the familiar route for wealthy creole plantation owners in England. They continued down the generations to benefit from legacies of slave ownership.
This chapter concludes that Yorke’s identity and outsider status in England continuously influenced his politics. While he retained something of cosmopolitanism, his gentlemanly status in England proved the most robust and durable identity. Nevertheless, Yorke could never quite attain gentlemanly ‘Englishness.’ Yorke is restored to his rightful place among political contemporaries such as Paine, Thelwall, and Cobbett, and among black or dual heritage activists such as Olaudah Equiano, Ignatius Sancho, William Davidson, and Robert Wedderburn.
