About: Dorothea Christina Thomas

Dorothea Christina Thomas (26 June 1796 — 5 August 1846) was a free woman of colour and slave owner from Grenada, whose common-law marriage with Major John Gordon became the centre of a Scottish legal case. It set an important precedent defining the circumstances under which a marriage could be established by "habit and repute" in Scotland and is illustrative of the challenges encountered in family law prior to the establishment of uniform reciprocity agreements regarding marriage recognition. Her relationships also refute the notion that free women of colour were merely mistresses and confirm that there were various types of relationships in her era which mirrored stable marriages.