Uncle Tom’s Cabin

This seemingly unusual name for a pub was in fact a relatively popular one in Victorian England and there were two premises so named in Plymouth, one in Gibbon’s Lane and the other in Bath Street. Both followed hot on the heels of the publication of abolitionist and preacher, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel of the same name – Uncle Tom’s Cabin or Life Among The Lowly.

The book, first published in 1852, was an instant success and went on to sell millions of copies around the world – it was only outsold in the nineteenth century by the bible. It tells the story of ‘Uncle Tom’ a humble, faithful and long-suffering black slave and was deemed by Abraham Lincoln to have played a significant role in bringing about the American Civil War, it also helped bring an end to slavery.

Curiously enough the pub became a mission room at the end of the nineteenth century.

Licensees

1857 - George Hoskin
1862 - E Pooley
1865 - John Hunkin
1867 - Elizabeth Young
1873 - William Davis
1880 - R Collacott
1885 - R Weeks
1895 - Mrs S Perkin