National Trust report highlights colonialism and slavery links to district properties

Two historic properties Park near Stratford has been highlighted in a new report by the National Trust examining links between its historic properties and colonialism and slavery.

The organisation decided to take an in-depth look at the subject in order to enable it to present such properties in a historically responsible and academically robust way.

Charlecote Park and Coughton Court are two of 93 historic places cared for by the National Trust with dark pasts connected to colonialism and slavery.

Charlecote Park has been home to the Lucy family since the late twelfth Century and a portrait in the National Trust’s collection depicts Thomas Lucy, who inherited the property in 1677, with an unidentified young black groom or page wearing a metal collar.

Parish records list the baptism in 1735 of Philip Lucy, a six-year-old black boy. More research is needed on his relationship, if any, to the Lucy household.

The house was later decorated with objects bought at the sale of William Beckford’s Fonthill Abbey, whose wealth derived from sugar plantations he inherited in Jamaica.

Charlecote’s collection also includes a number of objects associated with the siege of Lucknow in India including an eighteenth-century silver dress sword and scabbard presented to Mary Elizabeth Lucy (1803–89) by her son-in-law Major-General Charles Powlett Lane (1826–1910) who participated in the siege in 1857.

Charlecote Park is not the only estate where links to slavery and colonialism were identified, the manor of Coughton Court had long been owned by the Throckmorton family and Elizabeth Throckmorton (1565–c.1647) became Gentlewoman to the Privy Chamber of Elizabeth I.

In 1591, she secretly married Sir Walter Ralegh (1554–1618), who, between 1585 and 1590, had unsuccessfully attempted to establish the first English colony on Roanoke Island, now North Carolina.

In 1763, Sir Robert Throckmorton, 4th Baronet (1702–91), married Lucy Heywood, whose grandfather Sir Abraham Elton, was a slave trader and politician.

Lucy’s father, James Heywood (d.1738), owned the Heywood Hall Estate in St Mary, Jamaica, holding 232 enslaved people, 67 of whom were children. Her brother, James Modyford Heywood (1729–98), MP for Fowey, acquired two further plantations amounting to over 5,600 acres. He sold the Heywood plantation, including its enslaved workforce, in the 1790s for £18,000.

Dr Tarnya Cooper, the National Trust’s Curatorial and Collections Director said: “The buildings in the care of the National Trust reflect many different periods and a range of British and global histories, - social, industrial, political and cultural.

“A significant number of those in our care have links to the colonisation of different parts of the world, and some to historic slavery. Colonialism and slavery were central to the national economy from the 17 to the 19 centuries. Around a third of the properties now in our care have direct connections to wider colonial histories, often in a way that’s reflected in collections, materials and records that are visible at those places.

“As a heritage charity it’s our job to research, interpret and openly share full and up-to-date information about our places. This includes information about colonialism and slavery where it is relevant. This is part of caring for our properties in a historically responsible and academically robust way. The work helps us all understand what's gone before; now and for future generations.”

Tarnya added: “This report is the fullest account to date of the links between places now in the care of the National Trust and colonialism and historic slavery.

“This work is in no way exhaustive and we will be adding to it as we do more research. But it is an important foundation to share what we already know to form the basis of our own future research and interpretation at the places and collections that have links to colonialism or slavery and for other researchers. We have much more work to do to explore the wider histories at our places.”

John Orna-Ornstein, the National Trust’s Director of Culture and Engagement added: "These histories are sometimes very painful and difficult to consider. They make us question our assumptions about the past, and yet they can also deepen and enrich our understanding of our economic status, our remarkable built heritage and the art, objects, places and spaces we have today and look after for future generations."