Painting our Past
‘Painting our Past’ is a nationwide exhibition of portraits representing six individuals and the long history of African people in England. From Roman Britain to the 20th century their lives span the centuries, though many of them are not well known. The six paintings will be displayed at the places they lived, worked or visited to tell their stories.
Watch our film introducing the artists as they talk about what inspires them, their creative process, the importance of bringing these stories to life, and what they hope to achieve through their painting.
SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS
Lived: AD 145–211
Key fact: Roman Emperor from AD 193–211
Septimius Severus was born in an area that today is in Libya. His mother’s family were from Italy and his father’s family were descended from settlers in North Africa. He grew up a Roman citizen, spoke Latin and some of his family members were important senators (Roman officials). As an adult, Severus entered the senate too, and worked his way up to become governor of a Roman province that included part of today’s Eastern Europe.
In AD 192, the emperor was assassinated. Just a year later, his successor was murdered, and war for control of the empire soon broke out. Severus marched to Rome and defeated his rival to become emperor. He replaced the last emperor’s bodyguards with his own soldiers, and gave the army a pay rise, to make sure they stayed on his side. A few years later, Severus invaded and conquered some of Parthia, which covered parts of today’s Iran and Iraq.
Meanwhile, lots of building was taking place in the north of Britain, mostly on Hadrian’s Wall. New granaries were constructed to store food, and defences and buildings were repaired. In AD 208 Severus came to Britain with a great army, his two sons and his wife. For three years, the Roman Empire was ruled from York. Now aged 63, Severus and his elder son Caracalla, 20, led their army north of Hadrian’s Wall and into what is now Scotland. They conquered some land, and declared victory in AD 209, but this didn’t last long. British tribes rebelled, and even though they were defeated, Severus said that they should be eradicated. By this time, Severus was very ill, and he died before he could join the fight. After he died, Severus’s sons fought over who should be emperor next, and Caracella murdered his own brother, Geta, so that he could rule.
ST HADRIAN OF CANTERBURY
Lived: about 630 –709
Key fact: The African abbot who helped shape the English Church
Lots of the information we know about St Hadrian comes from the Ecclesiastical History of the English People – a book written by a monk called Bede in the 8th century. In his book Bede says that Hadrian was ‘an African by birth’. Because he was fluent in Greek and Latin, it is likely that he was from Cyrenaica, a place in what is now Libya. When Hadrian was born, it was a part of the Roman Empire. He became abbot of a monastery close to Naples, in Italy, and there is evidence that he became a trusted counsellor of the pope and the Byzantine Emperor, the two most important people in the Christian world at that time.
In 667, Pope Vitalian offered Hadrian the chance to become Archbishop of Canterbury. Hadrian suggested his friend Theodore instead, and went with him to England. When they arrived in Kent, Theodore made Hadrian the abbot of the monastery of St Peter and St Paul. Together, they founded a school at Canterbury. Lessons included the Bible, poetry, astronomy and calculation of the Church calendar, and Greek. One of Abbot Hadrian’s students was called Aldhelm. He wrote a collection of riddles inspired by a book by a North African writer called Symphosius, and it’s possible that Hadrian brought the original book to England with him. He also may have brought a copy of the writings of St Cyprian, which is one of the oldest known books from Anglo-Saxon England.
Working with Theodore, Hadrian also spread the use of music in church services and introduced the celebration of some important Italian saints to the calendar of the Anglo-Saxon Church. Hadrian died in 709 and was buried at his monastery. His remains – or relics – were rediscovered in 1091, and many miracles were attributed to him.
James Chappel
Lived: about 1648 – 1730
Key fact: His heroic actions to help the Hatton family after an explosion in 1672 made James a local legend
There are no known records of when or where James Chappell was born, but we think that he started working for the Hatton family in November 1663. A baptism record shows that he was definitely working for them by the age of 15. In the late 17th century, black male servants working in British country houses were viewed as symbols of their master’s status, wealth and overseas connections. Some black servants were paid and could leave their jobs when they chose to, but others were treated like slaves – they weren’t paid and could not leave. We don’t know James’ exact role, but we can use evidence to make a good guess. He seems to follow Christopher Hatton, 1st Viscount Hatton, on his travels, and later in his life James explained how he ‘putt his said Lord to bed’, which suggests he was Hatton’s personal servant. In a letter to her husband, Lady Cicely Hatton, the first wife of Christopher Hatton, asked about the key for James’ ‘chamber Door’. If he had access to keys and his own room, James was probably trusted by the Hattons.
The lives of servants were not usually recorded. One of the reasons we know more about James Chappell is because of his actions in December 1672. One night, Castle Cornet, Lord Hatton’s home in Guernsey, was struck by lightning. It hit the gunpowder stores, causing a huge explosion, and most of the castle was destroyed. James heard his master calling for help, and went to find him. He ‘crep’t on his hands and knees’ through the wreckage and onto the castle wall, where he found Lord Hatton, still on his mattress with the covers over him! James carried Hatton down from the wall to safety. He then went back to find Lord Hatton’s wife, Cicely, and their children. He heard a noise, and told the captain of the garrison to dig under the rubble. There, they found the three children, Anne, Margaret, and Elizabeth, all still alive. Sadly, Lord Hatton’s wife, his mother, and the children’s nurse all died.
After the explosion, James Chappell seems to have returned to live in Northamptonshire, married his second wife, and had children. He also might have continued to work for the Hattons. In his will, Christopher Hatton left James Chappell £20 a year for the rest of his life. This was a large amount of money for the time, equivalent to about 222 days’ wages for a skilled tradesman. It was much more than was given to any of the other servants and it allowed James and his wife to live a comfortable life.
DIDO ELIZABETH BELLE
Lived: 1761–1804
Key fact: A mixed-race woman raised in the aristocracy of Georgian Britain
Dido Belle was the daughter of a black woman called Maria Bell, who had been enslaved in the Caribbean, and a Royal Naval officer called Sir John Lindsay. She was raised by her great-uncle, William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield at Kenwood House in London. At this time, it was very unusual for a mixed-race child to be raised as part of an aristocratic British family, but we know that Dido was taught to read, write and play music. She also received an annual allowance of money, and supervised the dairy at Kenwood, which was a common hobby for Georgian ladies. When Lady Mansfield died, and Dido’s cousin Elizabeth was married, Dido stayed at Kenwood to care for her great-uncle in his old age. He treated her with affection and care, and Dido received a gift on her birthday each year.
Dido lived at a time when Britain’s wealth depended on the transatlantic slave trade. We don’t know whether she changed what Lord Mansfield thought about the slave trade, but it is recorded that he described it as ‘odious’ (very unpleasant). In his work as a judge, Lord Mansfield had to stick strictly to the law. He made an important ruling in court that helped a former slave called James Somerset, but this didn’t end the slave trade. It was finally abolished 35 years after James Somerset’s case. Another 26 years after that, the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 ended slavery across the British Empire.
When he died, Dido’s great-uncle left her £100 a year in a kind of pension, plus £500 (about £40,000 in today’s money). She married a French steward (a senior servant) called John Davinier, and they had three sons. The family lived in London until Dido died, in 1804.
SARAH FORBES BONETTA
Lived: 1843–1880
Key fact: Queen Victoria’s African Protégée
Sarah (originally called Omoba Aina) was born in West Africa, in what is now south-west Nigeria. As a child, she was captured during a raid on her village by the King of Dahomey. He held Sarah captive for two years before gifting her to Captain Frederick Forbes, from the British navy. Forbes gave her a new name – Sarah Forbes Bonetta – and took her to England. When she arrived in England, Sarah was introduced to Queen Victoria, who was so impressed with her intelligence that she decided to take responsibility for Sarah’s education and welfare.
At first, Sarah stayed with the Forbes family and visited the queen regularly. In 1851, she was sent to a boarding school in Sierra Leone, but was unhappy there, so Sarah returned to England to live with the Schoen family in Kent. Their daughter, who taught Sarah French and English, later said that Sarah ‘was very bright and clever, fond of study, and had a great talent for music’. Sarah’s achievements were talked about in newspapers, because at this time, many people in England believed in the racist idea that African people were less intelligent.
In 1862, when she was 19, Sarah married James Davis, a merchant from Sierra Leone. Because of Sarah’s connection to the queen, they had an expensive wedding, with 10 horse drawn carriages and 16 bridesmaids! After the wedding, Sarah and James moved to Sierra Leone. They named their first daughter Victoria after the queen, who became her godmother. They had two more children, but sadly, Sarah died from Tuberculosis in 1880, at just 37 years old.
ARTHUR ROBERTS
Lived: 1897–1982
Key fact: He fought on the front line and in the trenches during First World War
Arthur Roberts was born in Bristol to a West Indian father, David, and English mother, Laura. They moved to Glasgow where they lived in a cramped flat, and at night, Arthur slept in a nearby hotel, returning home during the day for meals. Arthur seems to have done well at school, and his war memoir shows that he was intelligent, had many interests, had read lots of books, and was a musician and artist.
In February 1917, aged 20, Arthur enlisted in the army. After a short time doing basic training in Scotland, Arthur was sent to France, to fight in the First World War. In June, he was sent to Ypres. After an exhausting march to the trenches, Arthur looked out over no-man’s land for the first time. It seemed quiet, and Arthur had no idea about the terrible things he would see during the war. Five days later, everything changed. German bombardment destroyed the trenches around him. Arthur saw his first dead soldier that day. Over the next four months, Arthur was at the front line three more times. In his diary, he writes about the things he sees and the exhausting changes from calm to chaos. On 1 November 1917, Arthur was given a job at base, due to an injury to his foot that took a long time to heal.
There were lots of negative thoughts about black men in Britain’s military at this time. Once Arthur arrived in France, he might have expected to be stopped from serving on the front line, and discrimination from other soldiers. Arthur doesn’t write about being mistreated, judged or singled out, but many other things that might have affected him emotionally are left out too. Therefore, we can’t know the whole truth about Arthur’s experiences.
After the war Arthur, returned to Glasgow. He became an engineer and then an electrician, and got married. Arthur died in January 1982.
Over to you...
Now that you've discovered the people in these six portraits, their stories and about the artists who painted them, why not paint your own portrait?
You could choose a person from the past or from your own family who you want to represent. Try to think about how you could use colours, background setting or objects they are holding to tell their story through your artwork.
