Caribbean links of the Montagu family at Boughton House

Britain’s Hidden Heritage: BBC 1, Sunday 28th August 2011 focussed on Boughton House without any ref to the slavery links of the Montagu family

There is just a glimpse of a black servant in a shot of ancestral portraits at
Boughton. No mention is made of this black presence though.

In a portrait of Lady Mary Churchill, Duchess of Montagu painted in the 1720s, attributed to Enoch Seeman, is a black servant called Charles (identified in the family cash books as 'ye Black of her Grace').

Thanks to Jan Marsh (NPG) for key details.

The Grahams family of Norton Conyers, Charlotte Bronte & Slave Plantations in the Caribbean

The Grahams family of Norton Conyers, Charlotte Bronte & Slave Plantations in the Caribbean

Britain’s Hidden Heritage: BBC 1, Sunday 28th Aug 2011: Clare Balding’s clip revealed that in May 1839 Charlotte Bronte took the temporary post of governess to the Sidgwick family at Stonegappe, Lothersdale, near Skipton. By 19 June 1839 she had left the Sidgwicks' employment. It was during her time with the Sidgwicks’, however, that Bronte had had the chance to visit Norton Conyers, a grand stately home belonging to the Graham family. It is said that this house was the inspiration for Bronte’s ‘Jane Eyre’. What the programme did not comment on was the links to slave ownership.
If the Mrs Rochester character is a creole from the Caribbean this would be in keeping with the Graham name because members of the Graham family owned several slave plantations, in Jamaica alone. The thing to do now is to establish what links these slave-owning Grahams, in the Caribbean, had to those based at Norton Conyers.

International Day of Slavery Remembrance 2011

Tues 23rd Aug 2011 was International Day of Slavery Remembrance, but you wouldn't have known it - not from the BBC anyway.

BBC Points West seemed to be the only BBC news broadcaster that made mention of it. And even then the mention was more a promotion of the new museum exhibition in Bristol than a focus on the day as such.

I didn't hear it mentioned on any of the BBC Radio 4 news programmes, not even on the Today Programme (6am to 9am).

Was it mentioned? Did I just miss it?

BBC Radio Voices from the Old Bailey - series 2 episode 4

Overview of trial of John Hogan, 1768

Hogan, described as a 'mulatto', was tried for the murder of a white female servant.

see BBC iplayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01380pf/

See original http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/images.jsp?doc=178601110003

Black people in Art 1400s to present - website review

Black people in Art 1400s to present.
See www.wikigallery.org/wiki/Subject_1086/Black-Art/page-1
121 paintings and counting. A brilliant collection. I can't wait to see it grow!

A Marrakesh Girl - Philip Alexius De Laszlo
The Slave Market at Cairo 1841 - William James Muller
Fire walking festival India from LInde Francaise - (after) Midy, Emmanuel Adolphe
Port Jackson New Holland Ceremony before an Aboriginal Marriage - (after) Leroy, Sebastien (Denis Sebastien)
Bust portrait of a Negro - Theodore Gericault
Ce qui sert a vos plaisirs est mouille de nos larmes - Jean-Michel Moreau
Tregears Black Jokes - Othello, engraved by Hunt, c.1834 - (after) Summers, W.
Tregears Black Jokes - The Route, engraved by Hunt c.1834 - (after) Summers, W.
Pierre Toussaint 1778-1853 1825 - Anthony Meucci
Negress in Costume - William Glackens
Marabout from Saint Louis Senegal - (after) Grasset de Saint-Sauveur, Jacques
Portrait Of A Blackamoor, Head And Shoulders 2 - French School
Negro Coach Boy - John Mellor
The Nigger Sam Band - Charles Hunt
The Black Boy - William Jones
The Marchand Mission travelling from the Congo to the Nile from Le Petit Journal 28th May 1899 - Henri Meyer
The Nubian Slave - Georgio Marcelli
Black Slaves Seated Outside their House in Martinique - Le Masurier
Juliet Noel Mrs Pierre Toussaint 1825 - Anthony Meucci
Cour-Rou-Bari-Gal, a native of New Holland, plate 18 from Voyage of Discovery to Australian Lands, engraved by B. Roger, pub. 1800-04 - (after) Petit, N.
Corroboree around a camp fire from his Drawings of the natives and scenery of Van Diemens Land 1830 - Joseph Lycett
Negro Dance - Pedro Figari
Head of a Negro - Theodore Gericault
The King of Congos Favourite Slave, engraved by J. Laroque, c.1770 - (after) Sauveur, J.G.
Portrait of a Young Arab - Frederick Goodall
Bezou - Alexander Evgenevich Iacovleff
A Native Corroboree at Night - Eric Gill
Black Dick turnd Taylor 2 - James Gillray
T.1550 Y-Erran-Gou-La-Ga, a native of New Holland, plate 19 from Voyage of Discovery to Australian Lands, engraved by B. Roger, pub. 1807 - (after) Petit, N.
Ascent of the Great Pyramid - Rudolf Carl Huber
Black Dick turnd Taylor - James Gillray
Study of a Negro Boy - William Etty
Indians on a Plantation, engraved by Victor Adam 1801-66 c.1835 - (after) Rugendas, Johann Moritz
Portrait of an Aborigine, c.1895 - Thomas William Roberts
Seated Moroccan, 1936 - Glyn Warren Philpot
Study of a Negro - Glyn Warren Philpot
Portrait of a Moor holding a flag at a window - Bartholomaus Maton
Slave Merchant in Goree Island Senegal - (after) Grasset de Saint-Sauveur, Jacques
A Young Archer - Govert Teunisz. Flinck
An Arab in Meditation - Carl Ludwig Ferdinand Kerstan
A Young Negro Woman - Theodore Gericault
Port Jackson New Holland Aboriginal Family - (after) Leroy, Sebastien (Denis Sebastien)
Until dinner began to come in across the yard slaves carry a prepared meal from a cookhouse to a plantation mansion - Edward Windsor Kemble
Disembarkation, engraved by Deroi and Leon Jean Baptiste Sabatier fl.1827-87 pub. by Engelmann, c.1835 - (after) Rugendas, Johann Moritz
Corrobori - Samuel Thomas Gill
Puzzled which to Choose Or the King of Tombuctoo offering one of his daughters in marriage to Capt Anticipated result of a African Mission - (after) Judel, Capt. E.
Contest with spears shields and clubs from his Drawings of the natives and scenery of Van Diemens Land 1830 - Joseph Lycett
Black Dancer - Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Joseph Napoleon Sebastien Sarda Garriga 1808-77 with the Emancipation Decree on La Reunion - Alphonse Garreau
Port Jackson New Holland - (after) Marchais, Pierre Antoine
Inhabitants of Grand-Bassam illustration from Le Tour du Monde 1868 - Adrien Emmanuel Marie
An African Fairy - Claud Lovat Fraser
Portrait of a Moorish woman - (after) Paolo Veronese (Caliari)
Queen and her Suite - Carlos Juliao
Victims for Sacrifice - (after) Norris, Robert
La Belle Espagnole or La Doublure de Madame Tallien 1773-1835 - James Gillray
How the white man trades in the Congo State bringing in rubber and hostages - Frederic de Haenen
Portrait of a Young Man - Bernard III Lens
Convention of Freedmen Discussing their Political Rights Georgia - John Karst
The Fabrication of Palm Oil at Whydah - Edouard Auguste Nousveaux
High class woman from St Louis Island Senegal - (after) Grasset de Saint-Sauveur, Jacques
Wine Carriers - Joaquim Candido Guillobel
Dancers in Haiti - Pedro Figari
T.1548 Ouriaga from Van Diemans Land, plate 9 from Voyage of Discovery to Australian Lands, engraved by B. Roger, 1807 - (after) Petit, N.
Johnny Enjoying the Sports of the Field - William Elmes
Negresses of Soudan - Captain George Francis Lyon
Public Procession of the Kings Women - (after) Norris, Robert
The King of Dahomeys Levee 2 - (after) Norris, Robert
The entertainer - Charles Green
Naba-Leba, Queen of the Island of Solor, near Timor, plate 25 from Voyage of Discovery to Australian Lands, engraved by B. Roger, pub. 1800-04 - (after) Petit, N.
A Berber of Southern Tunis - Harry Hamilton Johnston
Attack on Store Dray plate from The Australian Sketchbook - Samuel Thomas Gill
Negresses of Soudan 2 - Captain George Francis Lyon
Cotton making Dutch Antilles East Indies - Paolo Fumagalli
T.1551 Norou-Gal-Derri Ready for Combat, native from New South Wales, New Holland, plate 20 from Voyage of Discovery to Australian Lands, engraved by B. Roger, pub. 1807 - (after) Petit, N.
Museum of the day: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
Halt at the Spring - François Boucher
Mrs Edmund Morton Pleydell - Thomas Gainsborough
Uncle Dominic - Paul Cezanne
The Ponte Vecchio Florence - Bernardo Bellotto (Canaletto)
The Hero Who Loves Another Mans Wife, from Basohli, in the Punjab Hills, c.1660-70 - (attr. to) The Basohli Master
Le Conventionnel (The Conventional One) (or A Soldier) - Thomas Couture
Mrs Joseph Mann (Bethia Torrey) 1753 - John Singleton Copley
Krishna Loosens His Beloveds Belt, from Basohli, in the Punjab Hills, c.1660-70 - (attr. to) The Basohli Master
Anne Lady de la Pole - George Romney
The Queen and her Suite - Carlos Juliao
C.C.C. Ashantee Chiefs and King Coffe Kollally Son 1874 - M.B. Mealy
Bachist a Howazeen Bedawee and Mabzookh his little Son - Carl Haag
Port Jackson, New Holland Natives from the River Nepean Region, from Voyage Autour du Monde sur les Corvettes de LUranie 1817-20 engraved by Forget, published 1825 - (after) Pellion, Alphonse
The Rattan Torture Laos - (after) Gauchards, J.
Three Aborigines fighting Queensland - Richard Daintree
Portrait of a Blackamoor - (after) Jean-Alexis Grimou
Aboriginal Group Near Geelong - Eugene von Guerard
Portrait of a Man of New Zealand illustration from Journey Round the World to the South Pole - Charles Howard Hodges
Barbers - (after) Gold, Charles Emilius
A North African Fruit Vendor - Giuseppe Signorini
The King of Dahomeys Levee - (after) Norris, Robert
A boy and his African grey - Charles Verlat
Custom House Negroes Rio de Janeiro - (after) Henderson, John
Half Length Portrait of an Arab Boy - Frederick Goodall
Portrait of the African fighter Adolf Boutar - George Hendrik Breitner
African Woman 1910 - Felix Edouard Vallotton
Johnny Enamoured with Nymphs Bathing - William Elmes
Palankeens - (after) Gold, Charles Emilius
Native Corroboree - Samuel Thomas Gill
Abura, Chief Of The Ababua Tribe In Bambili, 1925 - Alexander Evgenevich Iacovleff
A Dude Belle - Currier
Head studies of two African men - Jacob Jordaens
Costume Design For A Negress In A Production Of Aladdin - Lev Samoilovich Bakst
Egyptian Girl - Vasily Polenov
Nude With Rose - August Hoffmann Von Vestenhof
A boy from Cairo - Charles Wilda
Negro Woodcutters - (after) Debret, Jean Baptiste
Bezou - Alexander Evgenievich Yakovlev
The Year of Release is at Hand - Alfred Corbould
An African Page dressed as a Harlequin - (after) Louis Vigee
Portrait Of A Kashmiri - Alexander Evgenievich Yakovlev
Life Around The Cabin - William Aiken Walker
Head of a youth, a study - Venetian School
Portrait Of A Black Page, Head And Shoulders, Wearing A Red Cloak - (after) Dyck, Sir Anthony van
African Village - Boris Dmitrievich Grigoriev
Smoking Moor - Antonio Rivas
Poule Au Pot - Rafael Senet y Perez
Buste De Jeune Femme Au Collier Rose - Leopold Carl Muller
A North African man - Leo Malempre
Head Studies - Gyula Tornai
Portrait Of An Arab Man - Aloysius O'kelly
A Young Black - (after) Sir Joshua Reynolds
The Jewelry Maker - Gyula Tornai
An African melon seller - Istvan Pekary
Kadija La Tunisienne Apportant Le Cafe - Hermann Katsch

Proposed 'Scottish Studies' in Scotland sparks claims of indoctrination

Opposition politicians voiced concerns after the Scottish Government revealed the new subject, which explores the country's history, literature, language and culture, would be compulsory.

Dr Alasdair Allan, the SNP's minister for learning and skills, outlined his vision for the course as a study was published showing 90% of the public support its introduction.

He said the topic, first unveiled in the SNP's 2011 election manifesto, would improve pupils' knowledge of Scotland and would be tested by an exam.

Scottish Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith insisted Scottish history was already adequately taught in schools and voiced fears about the "pseudo-nationalist undertones" of the subject.

"If this is going to be compulsory the first question is why and the second question is what will it be at the expense of?

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesman Liam McArthur added, "It is important that Scottish children learn about their cultural, linguistic and historical heritage at school. But there will be a suspicion with this administration that ministers could be tempted to hijack the curriculum for their own political purposes. SNP ministers will need to reassure parents and the wider public that this suspicion is misplaced.

However, Dr Allan rejected the concerns about indoctrination. "The content of Scottish history is not particularly political and will be taught in an impartial way. The idea that presenting facts about Scotland is indoctrination is not taken particularly seriously today."

Handsworth August 2011 incl. Pogus Caesar

Midlands Today Tues 16th Aug 7.19 mins into the programme, until 10.52 (Peter Wilson's report, part 1)

Sam King: BBC 1 'National Treasures'

Pure delight to see and hear from Sam King.
Well done Lenny Henry - impressive feature.
(I could not suppress thoughts of Deakus though!)

I'd no idea that Arthur Torrington could look so casual. Don't think I'd ever seen him before without a shirt and tie!

Dan Snow's comments added context re. Sam King's role as one time mayor of Southwark.

Black Bristolian Christian Barnett

After a successful visit over the Easter period, in 2011 Bristolian Christian Barnett secured his place at the New York Mercy College, to study for a an honours degree in Art and Animation, with the added success of being able to play NCAA Division 2 College Basketball. Christian, in his three years at Storm, remained totally focused on his dream. He featured on BBC Points West on 8th August 2011.

Sam King and Arthur Torrington: BBC 1 'National Treasures Live'

Weds 10th August at 7.30pm. 
The programme will be live from Dover Castle in Kent. Dan Snow and Sian Williams are the presenters celebrating all aspects and eras of British history.

In this first episode, Snow and Sian Williams explore the secret tunnels built deep inside the White Cliffs.
They find out what it was really like to be a knight in shining armour.

Guest reporter Lenny Henry will examine the role played by West Indian servicemen and women in WWII.

Sam King is a West Indian serviceman who contributed during WWII.
Arthur Torrington, as part of various Windrush projects, has worked with Sam & many others who contributed.

Hopefully it will be an informative feature.

Noor Inyat Khan - SOE WWII - The One Show Tues 2nd Aug

Good feature on the Asian SOE operative Noor Inyat Khan - SOE WWII
from 18.18 mins to 23.20 mins of the 30 min programme.

Gilt of Cain - Lemm Sissay

Just came across in a speech to the General Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church in 1842, given by Alexander McCaine, in which he stated that the institution of slavery was "ordained by God Himself."

It put me in mind of Lemm Sissay's 'Gilt of Cain' poem which features on the slavery memorial (unveiled 4th Sept 2008 by Archbishop Desmond Tutu).
The 10-ft high granite sugar cane columns & slave auction block were sculpted by Michael Visocch and sited at Fen Crt, Fenchurch Ave, London EC3 (nr Lloyds Bank of London (LAMDA)) on land part-owned by Church of St Mary Woolnoth, where abolitionist & former slave trader Rev John Newton – author of Amazing Grace – preached & held campaign mtgs.

Apparently Ken Martindale (British Black Heritage) led the campaign for the memorial.

I love the ‘Gilt'/ guilt associations
And now I love the McCaine/ Cain/ cane associations

It just gets richer every time.

I guess that Lemn Sissay was on my mind anyway because he 'Why I don't hate white people' was broadcast on Radio 3 again, the other day, as a fill in after some live Russian concert.

It's the 2nd time that I've heard this piece by Sissay and I'm even less sure of it now. True there are some telling lines, but mostly I heard anger and confusion.
Nothing wrong with anger and confusion I guess, except that it is unsettling. And perhaps issues re. 'race' will always be unsettling, and yet...

Oh well. Perhaps on 3rd hearing I might have a different response.