Dido Elizabeth Belle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dido Elizabeth Belle
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Painting of Belle (cropped), David Martin
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| Born | June 1761 |
| Died | July 1804 (aged 42–43) London, England
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| Resting place | St George's Fields, Westminster (1804–1970s) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Heiress |
| Spouse(s) |
Jean Louis Charles Davinière
(m. 1793) |
| Children | 3 |
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Dido Elizabeth Belle (June 1761 – July 1804) was a British heiress and a member of the Lindsay family of Evelix. She was born into slavery and illegitimate; her mother, Maria Belle, was an enslaved African woman in the British West Indies. Her father was Sir John Lindsay, a British career naval officer who was stationed there. Her father was knighted and promoted to admiral. Lindsay took Belle with him when he returned to England in 1765, entrusting her upbringing to his uncle William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, and his wife Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Mansfield. The Murrays educated Belle, bringing her up as a free gentlewoman at their Kenwood House, together with another great-niece, Lady Elizabeth Murray, whose mother had died. Lady Elizabeth and Belle were second cousins. Belle lived there for 30 years. In his will of 1793, Lord Mansfield provided an outright sum and an annuity to her, making her an heiress.
Contents
Early life
Dido Elizabeth Belle was born into slavery in 1761 in the British West Indies to an enslaved African woman known as Maria Belle. (Her name was spelled as Maria Bell in her daughter's baptism record.) Her father was 24-year-old Sir John Lindsay, a member of the Lindsay family of Evelix branch of the Clan Lindsay and a descendant of the Clan Murray, who was a career naval officer and then captain of the British warship HMS Trent, based in the West Indies. He was the son of Sir Alexander Lindsay, 3rd Baronet and his wife Amelia, daughter of David Murray, 5th Viscount Stormont. Lindsay is thought to have found Maria Belle held as a slave on a Spanish ship which his forces captured in the Caribbean. Lindsay returned to London after the war in 1765 with his young daughter, Dido Belle. When they arrived in England he took her to Kenwood House just outside the city, the home of his uncle, William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, and his wife Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Mansfield. Belle was baptised as Dido Elizabeth Belle in 1766 at St George's, Bloomsbury. The Murray family raised Belle as an educated woman along with their niece and Dido's cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray, whose mother had died.
A contemporary obituary of Sir John Lindsay, who had eventually been promoted to admiral, acknowledged that he was the father of Dido Belle, and described her: "[H]e has died, we believe, without any legitimate issue but has left one natural daughter, a Mulatta who has been brought up in Lord Mansfield's family almost from her infancy and whose amiable disposition and accomplishments have gained her the highest respect from all his Lordship's relations and visitants." At one time, historians thought her mother was an African slave on a ship captured by Lindsay's warship during the Siege of Havana, but this specific date is unlikely, as Dido was born in 1761.
At Kenwood House
The Earl and Countess of Mansfield lived at Kenwood House in Hampstead, just outside the City of London. Childless, they were already raising their motherless great-niece, Lady Elizabeth Murray, born in 1760. ..... Her role within the family suggests that she became more that of a lady's companion than a lady's maid.
At Kenwood House, "Belle was treated like the rest of the family when she was in company with only the family," says Mansfield. Dido Elizabeth Belle worked as an amanuensis for Lord Mansfield in his later years.
Belle lived at Kenwood House for 31 years. Her position was unusual because she had been born into slavery according to colonial law. Lord and Lady Mansfield to some extent treated her and brought her up as a member of the Murray family. As she grew older, she often assisted Mansfield by taking dictation of his letters, which showed she had been educated.
One of Mansfield's friends, American Thomas Hutchinson, a former governor of Massachusetts who as a Loyalist had moved to London, recalled in his personal diary that Belle "was called upon by my Lord every minute for this thing and that, and showed the greatest attention to everything he said". He described her as "neither handsome nor genteel – pert enough". He also talked about his first impressions of her at Lord Mansfield's house, saying "A Black came in after dinner and sat with the ladies, and after coffee, walked with the company in the gardens, one of the young ladies having her arm within the other. She had a very high cap, and her wool was much frizzled in her neck, but not enough to answer the large curls now in fashion. I knew her history before, but my Lord mentioned it again. Sir Lindsay, having taken her mother prisoner in a Spanish vessel, brought her to England, where she delivered of this girl, of which she was then with child, and which was taken care of by Lord M., and has been educated by his family. He calls her Dido, which I suppose is all the name she has. He knows he has been reproached for showing a fondness for her – I dare say not criminal".
A brief reference to Belle occurs in volume II of James Beattie's Elements of Moral Science. Beattie refers to her intelligence, saying "But I happened, a few days after, to see his theory overturned, and my conjecture established by a negro girl about ten years old, who had been six years in England, and not only spoke with the articulation and accent of a native, but repeated some pieces of poetry, with a degree of elegance, which would have been admired in any English child of her years." Following this is a footnote which states, "She was in Lord Mansfield's family; and at his desire, and in his presence, repeated those pieces of poetry to me. She was called Dido, and I believe is still alive." This and the quotations from Thomas Hutchinson are some of the few direct references to Dido found in primary source material.
Lord Mansfield ruled on a related matter of the status of slaves in England in his capacity as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. When called on in 1772 to judge Somerset v Stewart, the case of an escaped slave whose owner wanted to send him back to the West Indies for sale, he decreed:
The state of slavery is of such a nature, that it is incapable of being introduced on any reasons, moral or political; but only positive law, which preserves its force long after the reasons, occasion, and time itself from whence it was created, is erased from memory: it's so odious, that nothing can be suffered to support it but positive law. Whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow from a decision, I cannot say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England; and therefore the black must be discharged.
Mansfield's ruling that slavery did not exist in common law and had never been introduced by positive law was taken by abolitionists to mean that slavery was abolished in England. Mansfield later said his decision was intended only to apply to the slave at issue in the case. At the time, it was suggested that Mansfield's personal experience with raising Dido Belle influenced his decision. Thomas Hutchinson later recalled a comment by a slave-owner: "A few years ago there was a cause before his Lordship brought by a Black for recovery of his liberty. A Jamaica planter, being asked what judgment his Lordship would give [answered] 'No doubt... he will be set free, for Lord Mansfield keeps a Black in his house which governs him and the whole family.'"
Social position
The notion of a mixed-race child born in this era to be raised as part of an aristocratic British family was virtually unheard of, and the social conventions of Mansfield's household are somewhat unclear. A 2007 exhibit at Kenwood suggests that Dido’s African origins may have played a part in the disparity, yet it was also usual to treat illegitimate children as lesser family, therefore she wasn't permitted to dine in with guests, as was reported by Thomas Hutchinson. He said Belle joined the ladies afterwards for coffee in the drawing-room. In 2014, author Paula Byrne wrote that Belle's exclusion from this particular dinner was pragmatic rather than the custom. She notes that other aspects of Belle's life, such as being given expensive medical treatments and luxurious bedroom furnishings, were evidence of her position as Lady Elizabeth's equal at Kenwood.
As Belle grew older, she took on the responsibility of managing the dairy and poultry yards at Kenwood. This was a typical occupation for ladies of the gentry, but helping her uncle with his correspondence was less usual. This was normally done by a male secretary or a clerk. Belle was given an annual allowance of £30 10s. By contrast, Lady Elizabeth received around £100, but she was a beneficiary in her own right through her mother's family. Belle, quite apart from her race, was illegitimate, in a time and place when great social stigma usually accompanied such status.
For comparision: The annual wage of a female domestic worker holding the position of a housekeeper in a high-status household ranged from £20 to £70 at that time, while a Royal Navy lieutenant would draw about £100 a year. About £200 purchased a 3-bedroom house with garden outside the city of London.
Later life
Belle's father died in 1788 without legitimate heirs, bequeathing £1000 to be shared by his "reputed children", John and Elizabeth Lindsay (as noted in his will). Historian Gene Adams believed this suggested that Lindsay referred to his daughter as Elizabeth, and she may have been named Dido by his uncle and aunt after they took charge of her. Another source says that there was another natural daughter, known as Elizabeth Palmer (born c. 1765), who lived in Scotland.
Belle's legal status while Lord Mansfield was alive is uncertain. In his will written in 1783, published in 1793, Lord Mansfield officially confirmed or conferred Belle's freedom. To secure her future after his death, he bequeathed to her £500 as an outright sum and a £100 annuity. In 1799, Belle also inherited £100 from Lady Margery Murray, one of two female relatives who had come to live with and help care for the Murrays in their later years.
However, William Murray left his niece Elizabeth Murray £10,000. Her father was in line to inherit his uncle's title and entire wealth.
After Lord Mansfield's death in March 1793, Belle married Jean Louis Charles Davinière (anglicized to John Davinier) on 5 December 1793 at St George's, Hanover Square. Belle's husband was a Frenchman from Ducey in the Normandy. His date of birth is unknown, but he was baptised on 16 November 1768; assuming this happened shortly after birth, he was seven years younger than his wife. He had left France for England towards the end of the 1780s and found work as servant or valet with John ('Fish') Craufurd. They were both then residents of the parish. The Daviniers had at least three sons: twins Charles and John, both baptised at St George's on 8 May 1795; and William Thomas, baptised there on 26 January 1802.
Belle died in 1805 at the age of 43, and was interred in July of that year at St George's Fields, Westminster, a burial ground close to what is now Bayswater Road. In the 1970s, the site was redeveloped and her grave was moved. Her husband later remarried and had two more children with his second wife.
Descendants
Two of Belle's sons, William Thomas and Charles, were employed by the East India Company; William in England and Charles in India. Presumably, both of them had enjoyed a good private school education in their childhood, with tuition in English, Greek, Latin, French, accounting, land surveying, mathematics and drawing.
Charles Davinière joined the army in 1811 and initially served as ensign with the Madras Army (one of the territorial armies of the East India Company (HEIC), preceding the British Indian Army). He was assigned to the 15th Madras Native Infantry (MNI) and later to the 30th MNI (that was formed from the 2nd Battailon, 15th MNI, in 1824). He was promoted to lieutenant in 1817 and captain in 1827. In August 1837, he was "to have charge of Infantry recruits" in the headquarters at Fort St. George. Becoming major in 1841, Davinière retired on health grounds in 1845 or 1847, still serving then with the 30th MNI. Nonetheless, he was promoted one more time, to lieutenant colonel of the Madras Infantry, in 1855. The reason seems unclear; possibly he was reactivated for an unknown number of years.
Charles Davinière had married Hannah Nash, youngest daughter of J. Nash, Esquire of Kensington, at Kensington Church in August 1836. After his (final) retirement, Charles lived with his wife, children, and servants at Lansdowne Villas in Notting Hill, where he died on 24 January 1873.
William Thomas Davinière married a widow, Fanny Graham, and had a daughter, Emily. Emily died unmarried in 1870, several years after the death of her parents.
Belle's last known descendant, her great-great-grandson Harold Davinier [sic], died childless in South Africa in 1975.
Representation in media
18th-century portrait painting
The family commissioned a painting of Dido and Elizabeth. Completed in 1779, it was formerly attributed to Johann Zoffany but, following research by the BBC TV programme Fake or Fortune?, it has now been verified by the Scottish National Gallery as a painting in the Zoffany style by the Scottish portraitist David Martin. It is "unique in British art of the 18th century in depicting a black woman and a white woman as near equals". It shows Dido alongside and slightly behind her cousin Elizabeth, carrying exotic fruit and wearing a turban with a large ostrich feather. The painting is owned by the present Earl of Mansfield and housed at Scone Palace in Perth, Scotland. In 2007, it was exhibited in Kenwood House, together with more information about Belle, during an exhibition marking the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807.
Film, music, plays
- Dido Belle (2006), a film by Jason Young, was written as a short period drama titled Kenwood House. It was workshopped at Battersea Arts Centre on 21 June 2006 as part of the Battersea Writers' Group script development programme.
- Shirley J. Thompson's operatic trilogy, Spirit Songs – including Spirit of the Middle Passage about Dido Elizabeth Belle, with Abigail Kelly in the role – was performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, in March 2007 as part of the 200-year commemoration of the act abolishing the Atlantic slave trade.
- An African Cargo by Margaret Busby, a play staged by Black Theatre Co-operative (now NitroBeat) featuring actor Jeffery Kissoon at Greenwich Theatre, 2007, in commemoration of the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, deals with a landmark 1783 trial presided over by Lord Mansfield at the Guildhall, resulting from the Zong massacre. The character of Dido Belle expresses to the audience feelings of horror and injustice for the murder of the slaves on the ship.
- Let Justice Be Done by Suchitra Chatterjee and Maureen Hicks, a play put on by the Mixed Blessings Theatre Group was premiered at the 2008 Brighton Fringe and explored the influence that Dido Belle might have had on her great-uncle's Somersett Ruling of 1772.
- Belle (2013), a feature film directed by Amma Asante, explores Dido's life as the multiracial natural daughter of an aristocrat in 18th-century England, who became an heiress but occupied an ambiguous social position. The film is based on the 1779 painting of Dido and her cousin Elizabeth. The film stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Dido and Tom Wilkinson as her guardian Lord Mansfield.
- I, Dido (2018), a three-handed play by Non Vaughan-O'Hagan was commissioned by St George's Bloomsbury where Dido was baptised. The play explores the relationship between Dido, Lord Mansfield and Lady Betty. Act I takes place on the night of 6 June 1780 when the Mansfields' home in Bloomsbury Square was destroyed in the Gordon Riots . Act II takes place in Kenwood House six years later, after the death of Lady Betty. The play has also been adapted as a short film of the same name, directed by Penelope Shales-Slyne.
Novels
- Family Likeness, a 2013 novel by Caitlin Davies, was inspired in part by the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle.
- Author Paula Byrne was commissioned to write Belle: The True Story of Dido Belle (2014) as a tie-in to the 2013 film Belle. It was published in paperback and as an audiobook when the movie opened in the United States.
- Zadie Smith mentions the story of Belle in her 2016 novel Swing Time when the narrator goes to Kenwood House and overhears a tour guide talking about her.
- The short-story collection The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits, by Emma Donoghue, contains a short story called "Dido", about Dido Elizabeth Belle.
- Dido Elizabeth Belle features as one of the two central characters in The Lizzie and Belle Mysteries: Drama and Danger by children's author J.T. Williams, published in 2022. This is the first of series of historical novels set in eighteenth century London, anchored around the imagined friendship of Dido Belle with Elizabeth "Lizzie" Sancho, daughter of Ignatius Sancho.
See also
In Spanish: Dido Elizabeth Belle para niños
- Black British nobility, the class that Belle belonged to.
