History is history, it happens and things move on, today’s news is tomorrow’s history – right? Well, not exactly. Whilst the basic facts may not change, what we know about them certainly does.
Dido Elizabeth Belle is a case in point.
At Historycal Roots we first became aware of her story in the 1980s when local history researchers in Camden looked into the, now famous, double portrait that hung in Kenwood House, Hampstead.
Who, they asked themselves, was the black girl in the painting? They had found some information about her in the archives and published the story. There wasn’t a lot but, what there was, was intriguing. We kept in touch with developments in the telling of Dido’s story over the following years (and decades!)
Fast forward to 2014 and the film ‘Belle’, directed by Amma Asante and starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw in the title role, was released in the UK. Also that year, using Dido’s story as the inspiration, we wrote the first of our books for children, ‘Fern and Kate Meet Dido Elizabeth Belle’.
The book combined a short story (two modern school girls go back in time and meet Dido) with a summary of the true story of Dido’s life and the times she lived in. We did our best to get the real history accurate and read all the information we could find about her. Based on that we wrote ‘Dido’s Mother was an enslaved woman from the Caribbean’ and that she ‘might have been called Maria’. We concluded by saying ‘no one knows what happened to Maria (if that really was her name) after Dido was born but she may well have died soon after childbirth.’ We didn’t write it at the time but can remember thinking ‘and we never will know.’
Well, I didn’t bargain on the tenacity of historians and on the paper trail that marks out the course of our lives now and which marked out the lives of those who lived before us. Some very determined people have filled in many of the gaps in our knowledge of Dido and her mother.
On this site we like to add something to the work that others have done, rather than just repeat it. In the case of Dido we don’t have any fresh insights and can only share with you discoveries that others have made. In a book published recently, ‘Britain’s Black Past’, there is an article by Gretchen Gerzina which brings us up to date on Dido’s story and that of her mother. It is just one of 18 fascinating essays in the book which is a treasure trove of information, much of it new.
Looking at Gretchen Gerzina’s article about Dido we now know much more than we did just six years ago.
Dido was born in London on 29th June 1761 and was a free woman from birth. Earlier suggestions that Dido could have been born into enslavement and might have been born at sea are now known to be incorrect. The ‘birth at sea’ story seems to have originated with the descendents of Lord Mansfield but, as anyone with experience of researching family histories can attest, these traditions handed down through the generations can often be wrong.
Dido’s mother was indeed Maria Belle and, far from dying ‘soon after childbirth’, Maria lived in London for most of the period from 1761 to 1774. There is a strong likelihood therefore that Dido was able to see her mother even though they may only have lived together while Dido was an infant. It still isn’t known when Dido moved into Lord Mansfield’s household. Logic rather than any kind of historical research suggests it could have been 1764 when Maria left London.
Dido had at least four half brothers or sisters fathered by John Lindsey with different women during his time serving in the Caribbean. John Edward, born in 1762, died young. But Ann and Elizabeth, both born in 1766 to different mothers, and John born in 1767 survived childhood. Indeed John went on to become a Colonel in the Madras Army and amassed a fortune. Dido was the only one of John Lindsey’s illegitimate offspring who was born in the UK, the others were born in Jamaica.
Maria Belle lived with Dido’s father, John Lindsey, for a time (1764-65) in Pensacola, Florida. Their address was No.6 Western Bayfront. Lindsey was commander of naval forces stationed at Pensacola (from 1763 to 1781 Florida was in British hands). Lindsey married in 1768 and, as far as anyone has been able to establish, fathered no more offspring, legitimate or otherwise.
Even though Lindsey had been married for five years Maria was clearly someone who was still in his thoughts as, in 1773, he, now Sir John Lindsay, signed a plot of land in Pensacola over to Maria who was described as ‘a negro woman of Pensacola’.
Excavations at the site of the plot of land where the house stood have even found traces of fine quality glassware and ceramics, finds that contrasted sharply with the more masculine accoutrements found at other plots nearby (things like pipe stems and bottle fragments). The evidence suggests that the occupant of No.6 was a lady with a ‘higher status life-style’ and the researcher, Margo Stringfield, suggests Maria’s tastes may reflect the life she had become accustomed to during her time in London.
More is also now known about Dido’s husband, John Daviniere, and about her life with him. Daviniere was born in the town of Ducey in the Normandy region of France. He was baptised on 16th November 1768. They married on 5th December 1793 at St George’s Hanover Square and one of the witnesses was the son of 7th Earl of Coventry which shows that Dido continued to enjoy connections with the aristocracy. You can visit the very spot where they exchanged vows:
The couple moved into a newly built house at 14, Ranelagh Street North. They had three children together, two of whom (both sons) survived into adulthood. Etienne Daly has gone to great lengths to establish where Dido’s sons (and a grandson) are buried. The excellent website ‘All Things Georgian’ has several fascinating articles about Dido and includes one that documents Etienne’s research (having spent many hours in cemeteries looking for long lost graves the account of his search sounded all too familiar) https://georgianera.wordpress.com/2020/05/20/where-are-dido-elizabeth-belles-sons-buried/
Dido herself died on 25th July 1804 and was probably buried in St George’s Field burial ground. Much of the site was excavated in modern times to build a block of flats but not all of it was and it is possible Dido is still there. At the risk of being proved wrong (again) it seems unlikely that the exact location of Dido’s final resting place will ever be identified.
I will give Gretchen Gerzina the last word. Summing up Dido’s story she has this to say: ‘the story of Dido Elizabeth Belle challenges us to rethink what we thought we knew about Britain’s black past, about women like her, and about their lives in unexpected places.’