It is day two of October Squares, and also Black History Month. So I thought I’d take you for a walk in the grounds of Stourhead in Wiltshire. It is rather marvellous, and at this time of year a family favourite for walks. The estate and current house was created by Henry Hoare I, of Hoare Bank. He was known as ‘Good Henry’ of the Hoare family, and it was he that named the estate Stourhead in the 18th century. The garden, house and estate remained in the care of the Hoare family until 1947, at which point it passed into the hands of the National Trust.

Some of you are probably wondering, and the answer is yes! Stourhead is one of the 93 National Trust properties that has connections to slavery and colonialism.

The Hoare Bank, which Henry Hoare I led, invested in the South Sea Company, a public-private partnership that had the monopoly on supplying slaves to islands in the ‘South Seas’ and ‘South America’. In just 64 voyages the South Sea Company transported 34,000 enslaved African people to the Spanish colonies. ‘Good Henry’ was clearly not as good as his descendants would like us to think, although he was good at finance. Most investors in the Company lost their money during the infamous South Sea Bubble in 1720, however the Hoare family and their bank made their money during this crisis as they bought stock in the company when the price was low, and sold when the price rose. So not the kindest family or business.

Knowing the story doesn’t put me off visiting Stourhead, it has simply added to my understanding of the history and legacies of our country houses. I want to know the full story, not just the bits that look good in costume dramas. For far too many years we have allowed our history and interpretation of country houses to be limited or even worse ‘airbrushed’. Consequently the servants tales, the history of black presence in the UK, and the sources of the wealth have been ignored. Finally though these tangible legacies of British colonisation are being properly researched, and our shared stories are being told from multiple perspectives. It can only be a positive step forward, and one we should all take kindly to.

168 thoughts

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  6. Interesting story about a beautiful place – we Americans know so little of the history of slavery in the UK, I guess because it was so predominant here for the USA’s first three hundred years of history!

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    1. The British don’t know much about our slavery either, because we transported slaves to our plantations and yours rather than having them working in the UK we have collective amnesia about the part we played.

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  17. How very interesting February is our Black History Month. I wonder if there were any periwinkles on the grounds?. Slaves planted them to mark burial sites. I’m involved in creating a periwinkle memorial on our church grounds.
    Another thing WordPress has taken away my classic template for posting and I find the new Block thingi impossible I could even label my pingback!
    http://lightwords.blog/2020/10/02/my-favorite-kind-of-tomatoes/
    I know you did a tutorial can you pass on the link please
    What an Odd day to wake up to

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    2. Ah no periwinkles here. We had very few slaves actually in the UK, we were just “experts” at transporting enslaved people. 😔

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      3. Possibly . . it did though take me a few weeks to get used to it. It is unfortunately one of those things which has a painful stage to get through. Promise it is worth it

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