Category: News

The Royal Academy, London: Entangled Pasts 1768 to now

This exhibition brings together several of our favourite paintings under one roof. As the mini guide says:

‘Entangled Pasts explores connections between art associated with the Royal Academy and Britain’s colonial histories.’

The mini guide handed to visitors and free audio guide draw out the associations and the full catalogue contains an excellent introductory essay. You can buy the catalogue from the RA shop, it is pricey (as these things always are) but it is beautifully illustrated and gives a real flavour of the exhibition:

https://shop.royalacademy.org.uk/entangled-pasts-1768-now-art-colonialism-and-change

To whet your appetite here are just a few of the paintings on display.

Ignatius Sancho is believed to have been the first Black man to vote in a British Parliamentary election and in 1768 Thomas Gainsborough painted this portrait of him.

Sancho was a man of letters, as was Ottobah Cugoano and a selection of his manuscripts was on display:

Better still, the exhibition also includes the only known image of Cugoano, an etching on paper (now attributed to Thomas Rowlandson) dating from c1784 or c1790. Cugoano was employed for a time as a servant by Richard and Maria Cosway and this depicts him in that role.

‘The Head of a Negro‘ by John Singleton Copley was painted in 1777/78 and the subject matter is extremely unusual, at this time biblical scenes or paintings of great battles were the general order of the day. Although Copley had been the owner of enslaved people, this man, whose name, regrettably, is not recorded, is painted with evident respect for his humanity:

These images were previously known to us but a lot of others were not, including this one, a detail taken from a painting by Zoffany, ‘Colonel Blair and his Family and an Indian Ayah’. The catalogue of the exhibition points out that the girl looks too young to be an Ayah (nanny) and is more likely to have been the daughter of an Ayah or an illegitimate daughter of Colonel Blair. We are grateful to Audrey Dewjee for pointing out that Zoffany was in India in 1786 when this was painted.

There are many, many more exhibits to enjoy but we will finish with, Dido Elizabeth Belle, who in many ways was the inspiration that led us to start this site in 2015/16. It was painted in 1779 by David Martin, the previous attribution to Zoffany is now believed to be wrong. To think we travelled to Scone Palace, Perth to see this painting! Our visit was in 2014, before its importance was fully recognised by its owners and we found it hung in a rather obscure corner of a guest bedroom.

The exhibition is on until 28th April and, if you are in London and can spare the time, we can thoroughly recommend it.

 

 

International Women’s Day 2023

There are too few stories about women on the Historycal Roots website. We correct the balance slightly with our latest article by John Ellis which is about Charlotte Gardiner, a black woman who was hanged in 1780 for her part in the Gordon riots. Charlotte did not speak in her own defence when she appeared at the Old Bailey and so we have only the prosecution’s side of the story and this inevitably shows her in a less than favourable light.

Nevertheless, the black presence at major events in British history, which is so often overlooked, is worth recording even where that presence was at inglorious events like the Gordon riots.

As this is International Women’s Day it is appropriate to celebrate some of the stories on our site that feature women. There are links below to a small selection of stories that we have featured over the years, if you missed them when they were published (and even if you didn’t) they are well worth exploring!

First, the new article:

https://www.historycalroots.com/charlotte-gardiner-a…/

And now some articles you may have seen before:

Amanda Aldridge

Cheryl Butler – A new contributor to Historycal Roots

It is a pleasure to welcome Cheryl Butler as a new contributor to Historycal Roots. Cheryl is particularly knowledgeable about the history of Southampton and this is how she was introduced when she gave a TED talk in 2019:

She is a historian, writer, and former Head of Culture at Eastleigh where she worked on projects including Vital Villages, Legible Cities and the Partnership for Urban South Hampshire Culture and Quality Place group. Honorary Fellow of the University of Winchester and Fellow of the Royal Historical Association and has written extensively on the history of Southampton and is an editor for the Southampton Records and member of the Southampton Tourist Guides Association.

Her talk was about Southampton’s history in general (not specifically its black history) and you can see it here:

https://www.ted.com/talks/cheryl_butler_a_city_s_history_and_memory

But she has also written about Southampton’s black history:

Telling other histories: Early Black History in Southampton c1500-1900

Currently unavailable on Amazon, you should be able to order a copy from your favourite local book shop, using isbn 978-0-9557488-6-8 or by e-mailing a_sannah(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)hotmail.co.uk.

Although we have not featured Southampton on Historycal Roots before it makes sense that it would have long had a black community of note. As a port, there were seamen, and where there were seamen there were black seamen. It was also home to wealthy individuals with extensive interests in the East Indies and the Caribbean, individuals some of whom most likely employed black servants.

Cheryl’s article for us focuses on one individual who makes a fleeting appearance in Southampton’s history. Very little is known of John Jackson before he was taken prisoner as a deserter and nothing is known of what became of him although we can be pretty sure his punishment would have been gruesome.

Cheryl’s article is here:

https://www.historycalroots.com/john-jackson-of-the-31st-regiment-of-foot/

A storm at Harewood

My initial reason for visiting Harewood House was to see the exhibition about the life of Bertie Robinson that I have written about elsewhere, but I was lucky enough to get a ticket for a black history walk around the house and grounds.

My tour guides were none other than Pablo Fanque and his charming wife Susannah. This was quite something as Pablo died in 1871 and Susannah pre-deceased him in 1848. Pablo (actually Joe Williams, founder of Heritage Corner) and Susannah (Vanessa Mudd) took us on a whirlwind tour of black history that encompassed Egypt, the three west African trading empires of Ghana, Songhai and Mali and much more besides, before returning us to York and Harewood.

 

 

When I was working I used to feel that if I learnt one thing on any course I attended it had not been a complete waste of time. This walk certainly passed the ‘one thing’ test with plenty of room to spare.

I will focus here on one story that was new to me (apologies to those who are familiar with it). It concerns ‘ivory bangle lady‘. whose remains were discovered during an excavation in York in 1901. She gains her name from one of the bangles she was wearing. One of her bangles was made of jet, a stone that can be found in Yorkshire, but the bangle fashioned from ivory clearly had a more exotic origin.

It was evident that she was a wealthy woman from the jewelry and other items buried with her. It also seems likely that when she died (in her twenties) in the second half of the 4th century AD she was a Christian as a message carved in bone was found in her grave: “Hail, sister, may you live in God”.

A reconstruction of the face of ‘ivory bangle lady’

Scientific advances since 1901 mean that far more is now known about her. She has been identified as of mixed heritage with at least one parent from north Africa. Applying the same scientific techniques to the remains of others in the same burial ground suggests that maybe 10% of the population of Roman York were of similar heritage. Perhaps you were aware of that but, for me, it was a revelation.

There are several interesting articles on the internet about this remarkable lady, this is just one of them: https://www.yorkshiremuseum.org.uk/collections/collections-highlights/ivory-bangle-lady/

Returning to Pablo Fanque (real name William Darby), I had heard his story before but it was good to hear again about his remarkable life. The fact that he was born in Norwich in 1810 surprised me when I first heard about it but since then I have become more and more aware that the black presence was not restricted to major cities like London, Liverpool and Bristol but could be found in the countryside too. The evidence for this wider black presence can be seen not just in references in newspapers but in paintings and illustrations that date at least as far back as 1658 and may feature in a future post.

Pablo Fanque was a circus impresario and the walk took its name from a great storm that engulfed Pablo’s circus during a show at Harewood. The dramatic description of the storm reminded me of an event I attended recently where we were caught in a flimsy gazebo during a downpour of epic proportions.

Sadly, Susannah died when she was hit by falling beams when a gallery collapsed in the building where the circus was performing but Pablo soldiered on.

My one disappointment?Anyone familiar with the Beatles song Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite might reasonably have expected to see a bear, sadly no bears were in evidence! Apart from that, top marks to Joe and Vanessa for an entertaining and informative walk.

If you are in the Leeds area it would be well worth going on a future Heritage Corner walk and you can find out more here: https://heritagecornerleeds.com/

Season’s Greetings from Historycal Roots

Although we have not had many opportunities to meet up in person this year, thank you for being with us in spirit during 2020.

We hope you are all taking time to look after your health and well-being. 

Seasonal Greetings and best wishes for 2021.  

The Historycal Roots team

A Plaque for Equiano

The Equiano Society has been instrumental in getting a plaque placed at 37 Tottenham Street, London W1. Equiano lived here while working on his ‘Interesting Narrative’.

The Plaque at Tottenham Street

In normal times the Historycal Roots team would have been out in force for the unveiling but, due to Covid-19 restrictions we were unable to attend.

 The Mayor of Camden did the honours:

The Mayor of Camden

You can find out more about the work of the Equiano Society here: https://equiano.uk/the-equiano-society/

Photos: courtesy of The Equiano Society (2020)

Armed Forces Day – Remembering The Black Presence

On this Armed Forces Day we remember the black service men and women who have served Britain in armed conflicts since the 19th Century and before. 

Their contribution must not be forgotten.

A Wonderful Life

We have been aware of the story of Barclay and Trudy Patoir for some time but a recent BBC radio programme, featuring interviews with the couple and their children, is very moving. Barclay Patoir came to England in 1941 to work as an engineer. His story demonstrates that people from the colonies helped the War effort in many ways, not just by serving in the Forces. But above all this is story of love in the face of racial prejudice, a love that endured for over seventy years.

Not sure how long the programme will be available but, hopefully, you will be able to listen to it here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000j94c

If you can’t access the radio programme you should be able to read the story here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-39003902

Sad to hear that the couple both died shortly after the programme was made but, as one of the contributors comments, they had ‘a wonderful life.’

Our thanks to Audrey Dewjee for bringing the programme to our attention.

Krios of Sierra Leone at the Museum of London Docklands

The Museum of London Docklands has always been one of our favourite museums. No matter how many times we go, there is always something new to see.

We have long wanted to see the Krios of Sierra Leone exhibition which has been on display at the Museum since September 2019. We finally got to go last week and were not disappointed. The exhibition aims to publicise the largely untold history, heritage and culture of the Krios people from Sierra Leone and it certainly achieves that objective.

It was fascinating and informative to see how many famous people are of Krio descent. One of Historycal Roots’ old favourites, Samuel Coleridge Taylor (below), is one such example.

We won’t risk spoiling your enjoyment by telling you everything about the exhibition but if you can get along to view it we can guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

300 Years of Migrating to Leeds

Bill Hern, our northern correspondent, has this to say about a current exhibition in Leeds:

On 9 August I had the pleasure of visiting Leeds City Museum to listen to a fascinating presentation called “300 Years of Migrating to Leeds.”

It was virtually standing room only as an enthralled audience heard curators Adam Jaffer and Ruth Martin describe Leeds’ proud history in welcoming migrants and refugees over the centuries. There is evidence of migrants coming to Leeds tens of thousands of years ago, but the first large waves of migrants came over in the 19th century from Ireland and also Jewish refugees mainly from Russia and Poland.

Leeds has benefited greatly from migration particularly through the Jewish community, Montague Burton (originally Meshe Osinsky) founded Burton Menswear and of course Michael Marks of Marks and Spencer fame was another famous Jewish migrant to Leeds.

Ruth and Adam also covered the migration of Belgians during World War 1, Ukrainians immediately after World War 2, West Indians and South Asians.

The reasons for people moving to Leeds often involve escape from War or persecution but Adam stressed the impact the building of the Mangla Dam in Mirpur, Pakistan in the 1960s had on immigration from that country. Over 100,000 people were left permanently displaced after 280 villages were flooded in order to create the Dam. Many used their compensation payments to move to Yorkshire.

More recently Leeds has maintained its reputation as a city which welcomes migrants receiving people from East European EU countries. It is the 6th most popular British city for Polish immigrants.

Migrants have also been received from Iraq, China and Syria with Leeds being named one of the most welcoming cities for Syrian refugees. Leeds is currently a City of Sanctuary, part of a national movement to build a culture of welcome for people seeking sanctuary in the UK.

It is impossible to do justice to the information-packed hour long presentation in only a few paragraphs but the good news is that the Museum has a free exhibition called ‘A city & its welcome – Three centuries of migrating to Leeds.’ The Museum’s publicity material sums up the exhibition perfectly – “A city and its welcome’ tells the stories and experiences of those who have made a home in Leeds over the past three centuries, and how they have helped shape the city that we recognise today. Come on a journey with us to see the differences between their hopes and expectations and the realities of life in a new place, plus treasured objects brought from afar.”

The exhibition is open until 5 January 2020 and really is not to be missed. I cannot recommend it highly enough.