Draft:Ralph Cleghorn

Ralph Brush Cleghorn (1804– 17 March 1842) was a merchant and political activist from the island of Saint Kitts (or Saint Christopher) in the British West Indies. He was a member of the island's free coloured community, being the son of a white man and an enslaved woman.

Early life
Cleghorn was born in 1804 on Saint Kitts, the oldest of three sons of Margaret Steele and Robert Cleghorn. His mother was a slave at the time of his birth and as such he was born into slavery, however he and his mother had been manumitted by 1814 in unclear circumstances. His father was a white attorney and slaveholder who in 1817 was elected to represent Saint Thomas Middle Island Parish in the island's legislature.

At the age of five, Cleghorn was sent to England to be educated, a common practice for. He remained in England in 1823 and

Business activities and slave ownership
Following his father's death in 1825, Cleghorn established himself as a merchant, using cattle and other assets that he had inherited from his father as well as the business connections he had built up during his time in England. He offered a wide range of imported goods and by his own account attained an income of £1,200 per annum. By 1827 he was the wealthiest free coloured person in Saint George Basseterre Parish, with his taxable property including land valued at £84 as well as eight slaves. He ultimately owned thirteen slaves, but following his conversion to abolitionism arranged for their manumission between 1829 and 1830.

Public life
In 1833, Leeward Islands governor Evan Murray-Macgregor appointed Cleghorn and John Berkeley, another free coloured man, as aides-de-camp.

on the recommendation of Saint Kitts' attorney-general Charles Thompson,.

President of Nevis
In October 1841, Cleghorn was appointed president of Nevis, the island colony adjacent to Saint Kitts.

Cleghorn

Personal life
In 1824, Cleghorn married Maria Berkeley, a free coloured woman who had also spent time in England. The couple had no recorded children, but he was close to his wife's family.

Cleghorn died in Nevis on 17 March 1842.

Legacy
The National Archives of St. Kitts & Nevis holds six journals produced by Cleghorn from 1835 and 1836, detailing his experiences as a stipendiary magistrate. The journals were digitised in 2016 with funding from the University of the West Indies.