Thesis title:
Slavery and Empire on Display at Charlecote Park
‘I shall describe no more’: (Re)Connecting Black Histories to the Beckford Collection at Charlecote Park
This thesis traces the links of slavery and colonialism within Charlecote Park in Warwickshire through the Beckford collection.
This collection of predominantly Asian artefacts was bought at auction by George Hammond Lucy in 1823 after he inherited Charlecote House as part of its update and for the arrival of his wife Mary Elizabeth. The thesis will explore how material expression of opulence and social standing was funded through colonial exploitation. It will draw attention to the global network that relied on dehumanisation and discrimination for the benefit of the few and analyse the culture that, knowingly or not, revelled in the material culture that came from imperialism and colonialism.
The aim of the thesis is to re-instate the narratives of Black enslaved people in Jamaica whose labour financed Beckford’s collection and how such stories are then transferred with the movement of the objects to Charlecote.
Research Area
Publications
2024
-
Emerging Scholars Researching Black British Histories (mid-Eighteenth to mid-Nineteenth Centuries), Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, published online October 2024. With Kristy Warren and Montaz Marche
2023
- Essay 'Suite of ebony furniture inlaid with ivory, Charlecote Park' with Jon Stobart, in Jon Stobart, Global Goods and the Country House: Comparative perspectives, 1650-1800, (UCL Press, 2023)
- 'Out in the English Countryside: Black People in Eighteenth-Century Warwickshire' in Many Struggles: New Histories of African and Caribbean People in Britain, edited by Hakim Adi (Pluto Press, 2023).
2022
- Book Review of Simon P Newman, Freedom Seekers in Restoration London (University of London Press, 2022), History Matters Journal, vol.2 no.2 (Autumn 2022) https://www.historymatters.online/journal
2021
- Book Review of Gretchen H Gerzina, Britain's Black Past (Liverpool University Press, 2020), History Matters Journal, vol.1 no.2 (Winter 2021) https://www.historymatters.online/journal
Conferences
2024
- Reconnecting Black Histories to the Beckford Collection at Charlecote Park in Warwickshire, The British Emire in the Art Gallery, London, Septmeber 2024
- '"A Sanctuary of Refuge and Good Taste": Orientalist Fantasy and Enslavement at Fonthill Abbey', British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, Oxford, January 2024
2023
- 'Black Rural Life: Continuing from Habib into Eighteenth-Century Warwickshire', Reflecting on Imtiaz Habib's Black Lives in the English Archives, organised by KCL, London, May 2023
- 'To Remember or to Forget: William Thomas Beckford and Collection and Connection to Slavery', British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, Oxford, January 2023
2022
- Work based on my research, National Trust PhD Symposium, National Trust, Oxford, September 2022
- 'The challenges in decolonising Black British history in Coventry and Warwickshire', The Politics of Black British History (closed workshop), Oxford, June 2022
- Work based on my PhD research, Researching Black British Histories, Birmingham Research Institute for History and Cultures, Online, February 2022
2021
- 'Where are Warwickshire's Black People? An Examination of the Black Presence in Warwickshire in the Long Eighteenth Century', New Perspectives on the History of African and Caribbean People in Britain Conference, Online, October 2021
- 'The Ties That Bind: Untangling Imperialism and Slavery Display at Charlecote Park', Global Britain: Decolonising Art's Histories, Association for Art History, Online, June 2021
- 'Interpreting and Examining Complex Histories in Britain's Historic Houses: A Potted History' with Charlotte Johnson, The World in a (Historic) House: Global Connections and Collections, Institute of Historical Research, Online, June 2021
- 'Learning to Appreciate the Archive', Archival Discoveries and Discussions Workshop, Royal Historical Society, Online, February 2021
2020
- 'Business Woman or Whore? Rachel Pringle Polgreen and Misogynoir in the Eighteenth-Century Anglophone Caribbean', British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, Oxford, January 2020
2019
- 'Walking the Line: Parallels of mixed-race identity in the eighteenth and twenty-first century', What's Happening in Black British History? X, University of Leicester, May 2019
Public Engagement & Impact
I am committed to disseminating the results of historical research to a broader public. I am taking part in sessions on a community advisory panel for Leamington Spa Art Gallery and Museum for an upcoming exhibition. I have also worked with Lion Television as a researcher for episodes of the hit television show Horrible Histories.
Other Research Interests
- Black British History
- Caribbean History
- Country House History
- Museum and Heritage
- Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century History
Memberships
British Society for Eighteenth Century Studies (BSECS)
Royal Historical Society
Paul Mellon Centre Doctoral Research Network
Museum Association
