Were there black people in england in the 1800s

Hanging on a wall in Scone Palace in Perth, Scotland, is an 18th-century double portrait of two young women of high society.

Were there black aristocrats in england in 1813

One is sitting reading a book whilst the other is passing by clutching a basket of fruit. Both are adorned with expensive silk dresses with pearl necklaces draped across their necks. In the distance, you can make out the Georgian cityscape of London, including St. Paul's Cathedral. There is nothing unusual about the painting drawn by the Scottish artist David Martin, except for the fact that one of the women is black.

The young lady in question is Dido Elizabeth Belle who is captured in the portrait alongside Lady Elizabeth Murray, her seated white companion. In 18th-century British art, black people were often depicted as servants or slaves; it is highly unusual to see a black woman represented as the equal of a white woman. But as we shall discover, nothing about the life of Dido was usual.

It is believed that Maria was a slave aboard a Spanish slaving ship travelling across the Caribbean.

Black people in bridgerton

Although historians are not entirely sure about how Lindsay and Maria met, it is thought his ship captured the slaving ship that Maria was on. Read more about Sport. The Murray family raised Dido alongside her cousin, educating her in the ways of 18th-century aristocracy. It is believed that Maria and John continued their relationship until when she left for Pensacola, Florida to live on a plot of land purchased for her by Lindsay.

Lindsay, who by this time was knighted, had many illegitimate children although no offspring from his actual marriage to Mary Milner, daughter of Sir William Milner. Raised at Kenwood House, the palatial stately home of Lord Mansfield in Hampstead, London, Dido was brought up as part of the aristocratic family.