Booklog 32: Belle: The Slave Daughter and the Lord Chief Justice
BELLE: THE SLAVE DAUGHTER AND THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE
by Paula Byrne
The painting at the center of the story I remember having seen many years ago. It always struck me as looking oddly anachronistic, with the traditional portrait of the placid white young woman but with the mischievous, exotic one smiling at the artist, almost winking in a pact between her and the viewer. It didn’t hurt that she looked a lot like Nichelle Nichols, and as a Star Trek fan since the original series debuted, that always stayed with me. Was it something that someone had mocked up, taking something from that time and adding the Nichelle-alike? And can you see Lt. Uhura in that outfit?
Now, many years later, when the movie came out and the flurry about the portrait got attention, I knew I had to do some reading. I have yet to see the movie (because somehow it’s less convenient to see a movie, taking two hours, than to read a book, taking a bit longer), but I read the book that came out with the movie. It didn’t surprise me, sadly, that beyond the sketchy basics of who the Nichelle-alike was-her name was Dido Elizabeth Belle-and some of her origins, there was little information about her, but the world in which she was born and lived and died was an interesting time filled with turmoil, leading to the abolition of slavery in Britain, many decades before the Civil War in the United States forced Britain’s off-shoot to do the same. (And of course, there are those who say it never happened, but I won’t get into that.)
But who the young woman’s guardian was-and he was her guardian, entrusted to him by her father, John Lindsay, later admiral of the British navy-is beyond question: William Murray, Earl of Mansfield, lord chief justice, high muckety muck of the British judicial system, world-renowned expert on maritime law and all-around smart and thoughtful guy. With his wife, Mansfield raised Dido and her cousin Elizabeth (a family name-did you guess?) together, and later in his life, Dido acted as his secretary. Her later years-such as they were, since she married after the death of her guardian, had a few children, and died in her early 40s. Her resting place is uncertain, and since the cemetery she is thought to have been buried was moved, her remains are really lost to the ages. But Mansfield made sure she had money of her own, both during her life and after his, and so, after her death, her husband became a man of means and leisure-from her money. The injustice of that is twofold, but nothing new in any society.
Dido was a source of great curiosity in London society, not only because of her family background (in a time when the children of captured slaves would have been sluffed off or even killed, if not outright but of neglect, her father chose to recognize her, going so far as to entrust her care to a man of great note in society and politics) but her personality. With the exception of the questionable comments of an American, a Loyalist, living in exile in London at the time, she was known for her intelligence, beauty, and personality. This book gives us an idea of who she may have been. We’ll never know for sure, but we do get an idea of the times and the people in it.
COMING UP: I have something waiting for me at the library!
by Paula Byrne
The painting at the center of the story I remember having seen many years ago. It always struck me as looking oddly anachronistic, with the traditional portrait of the placid white young woman but with the mischievous, exotic one smiling at the artist, almost winking in a pact between her and the viewer. It didn’t hurt that she looked a lot like Nichelle Nichols, and as a Star Trek fan since the original series debuted, that always stayed with me. Was it something that someone had mocked up, taking something from that time and adding the Nichelle-alike? And can you see Lt. Uhura in that outfit?
Now, many years later, when the movie came out and the flurry about the portrait got attention, I knew I had to do some reading. I have yet to see the movie (because somehow it’s less convenient to see a movie, taking two hours, than to read a book, taking a bit longer), but I read the book that came out with the movie. It didn’t surprise me, sadly, that beyond the sketchy basics of who the Nichelle-alike was-her name was Dido Elizabeth Belle-and some of her origins, there was little information about her, but the world in which she was born and lived and died was an interesting time filled with turmoil, leading to the abolition of slavery in Britain, many decades before the Civil War in the United States forced Britain’s off-shoot to do the same. (And of course, there are those who say it never happened, but I won’t get into that.)
But who the young woman’s guardian was-and he was her guardian, entrusted to him by her father, John Lindsay, later admiral of the British navy-is beyond question: William Murray, Earl of Mansfield, lord chief justice, high muckety muck of the British judicial system, world-renowned expert on maritime law and all-around smart and thoughtful guy. With his wife, Mansfield raised Dido and her cousin Elizabeth (a family name-did you guess?) together, and later in his life, Dido acted as his secretary. Her later years-such as they were, since she married after the death of her guardian, had a few children, and died in her early 40s. Her resting place is uncertain, and since the cemetery she is thought to have been buried was moved, her remains are really lost to the ages. But Mansfield made sure she had money of her own, both during her life and after his, and so, after her death, her husband became a man of means and leisure-from her money. The injustice of that is twofold, but nothing new in any society.
Dido was a source of great curiosity in London society, not only because of her family background (in a time when the children of captured slaves would have been sluffed off or even killed, if not outright but of neglect, her father chose to recognize her, going so far as to entrust her care to a man of great note in society and politics) but her personality. With the exception of the questionable comments of an American, a Loyalist, living in exile in London at the time, she was known for her intelligence, beauty, and personality. This book gives us an idea of who she may have been. We’ll never know for sure, but we do get an idea of the times and the people in it.
COMING UP: I have something waiting for me at the library!