We are a group of year 10 students at Chiswick School who undertook a project to promote and celebrate the African residents of Chiswick House. ;xNLx;With this timeline we hope to inform people about how our local history can be seen from a national and global perspective.;xNLx;
Asante Empire of the Akan people established in West Africa (Ghana)
Britain becomes the dominant European naval & commercial power
Richard Boyle inherits the Jacobean house & estate at Chiswick, Burlington House (St James), Londesborough Hall estate (Yorkshire) & Lismore Castle estate (Ireland) aged 11, becoming the 3rd Earl of Burlington. Juliana, his mother, managed all his estates until 1715, and was responsible for his interest in music and the arts.
Act of Union creates the Kingdom of Great Britain
Under the Treaty of Utrecht France transfers its interests in many American territories to Britain. The South Sea Company, in which the Burlingtons invested, acquired exclusive rights to supply Spain's American colonies with enslaved people.
Summer Parlour added to Old Jacobean House. This would become the space in which Lady Burlington would entertain, play music and paint.
Lord Burlington goes on his second Grand Tour to Rome where he meets artist and designer, William Kent, a fellow Yorkshire Man. Kent returns from Rome with Lord Burlington and moves into Burlington House. He remained with the family for several decades.
The Royal African Company was created in 1671 to manage the royal monopoly on all aspects of Anglo-African Trade. It lost this monopoly in 1697, which led to a huge increase in British slave trading activities. In 1720, the Duke of Chandos attempted to refinance the RAC with the help of peers, including Lord Burlington, by issuing 15,000 new shares. This investment was intended to clear the Company's debts and help rebuild the decaying British controlled posts along the West African (Guinea) coastline. The RAC continued to take part in the trade of enslaved Africans, but looked to increase the range of products that the RAC produced and collected in Africa, with African labour, for export direct to Britain. Chandos hoped that profits made from African commodities would help the RAC recapture control of the trade in enslaved Africans. Between 1672 and 1731, the Royal African Company transported 187,697 enslaved people on company-owned ships (653 voyages) to English colonies in the Americas.
Lord Burlington (26) marries Dorothy Savile (21)
An anonymous enslaved person in Virginia, writes to the ’arch Bishop of Lonnd’, asking him to ‘releese us out of this Cruell Bondegg'
In St James parish church, London
The Jacobean House catches fire and the west wing is demolished. This prompts Lord Burlington to build the Villa to keep his incredible art and manuscript collection safe.
Joseph Casar is baptised in St Nicholas's church, Chiswick. We know that there was at least one other 'Black' employee working alongside Joseph - Richard Tamerlane, who was also baptised at Chiswick in May 1726.
Burlington went to France in 1726, where the exiled Stuart king was planning another Jacobite rebellion. His companion, and brother-in-law, Sir Henry Bedingfeld paid large sums into a Jacobite bank whilst they were in Paris. Lord Burlington was given the code name Mr Buck. From Lady Burlington's letters to her husband, we learn that their correspondence was opened by the postmaster general. This was only permitted if the writers were under suspicion of treason. Lady Burlington had to place her complete trust in Joseph Casar to deliver and keep private her personal communications.
Lady Burlington gives birth to another daughter, named Juliana after Lord Burlington's mother. The baby is baptised in St James, Westminster
Dorothy Boyle was one of Queen Caroline's Ladies of the Bedchamber. On her appointment Lord Hervey said her manner was like 'a cringing House-Maid'
Joseph Casar is refunded the travel and accomodation expenses he recorded when delivering Lady Burlington's messages. Clearly demonstrating he could read, write and do maths.
Led by Queen Nanny, starts between the Jamaican Maroons and British colonial authorities on the island.
In the library at Chatsworth is a copy of a book published in 1728 by William Smith, a surveyor for the Royal African Company. The book is called 30 Different Drafts of Guinea and includes a map of the African coastline, views and plans of British forts and Castles. Lord Burlington is listed as one of the subscribers, indicating more than just a passing interest in the books contents.
Lady Burlington, accompanied by several employees including Joseph, is attending the Queen at Windsor Castle. She writes to her husband expressing concern for Joseph and recognising his vulnerability
With the exception of the link building that would connect the Villa to the Jacobean House - not completed until 1733.
He is now one of a group of special advisors to the King, and therefore plays a significant role in government decisions made at the time.
Joseph Casar is missing from the list of wages paid to staff. In January 1731 the only footman recorded is Richard Harris and by October he has been replaced by Joseph Love. Did Joseph leave or go to Londesborough as suggested by Lady Burlington in her letter of 1729?
A few of Kent's sketches show individuals of colour in the Chiswick Gardens attending or assisting Lady Burlington. These could be Joseph Casar.
Revolt takes place on board the British ship 'Little George'. 96 enslaved African women and men capture the ship, sailing it to the Sierra Leone river where they escape, leaving the crew on board.
Lady Burlington gives birth to her daughter Charlotte
The Upper and Lower link buildings once connected the Villa to the Jacobean house. Staff and residents could pass between the two buildings protected from the weather.
Lord Burlington resigns all his positions in Court, spending much of his time at Londesborough Hall as Lord Lieutenant of the whole of Yorkshire Ridings
Thomas Coram presents King George II with the first petition for a Foundling Hospital to care for abandoned babies across the capital. Lord and Lady Burlington are amongst the first to financially support the proposal.
Lady Burlington redecorates the Summer Parlour at her own expense. The large green chairs in the Green Velvet Room were commissioned by her for the Parlour and the ceiling decoration inspired by Meissen porcelain designs. The room also gives a nod to the Savile family through the Owl that appeared on the family crest
An uprising takes place in Antigua led by Prince Klaas. He was installed as King of the Black Antiguans during an Akan ritual. Although this was regarded by the white Antiguan slave owners as a "innocent ceremony," according to Western African traditions, it was actually a declaration of war. On the report of an unnamed slave, Klaas was found guilty of participating in the scheme along with 132 other individuals. 88 revolutionaries were executed, including Klaas. The Most Exalted Order of the National Hero, Antigua and Barbuda's highest honor, was posthumously given to Klaas in 2000
Dorothy Boyle retires from her Royal Court position upon Queen Caroline’s death. The Queen died after primitive surgery at St James's Palace.
Accounts confirm that three ‘Black boys’ are tutored at Chiswick - one of whom is likely to be James Cumberlidge. The fees were paid by Lady Burlington, who used the same schoolmaster to tutor her daughter Charlotte who was 7 (born 1731)
Under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 that ended the War of the Spanish Succession, Great Britain received a 30-year asiento, or contract right, from Spain. The asiento was in two parts, the Asiento de Negros, which allowed Britain a monopoly to supply 5,000 slaves each year to the Spanish colonies, and the Navio de Permiso, which permitted a single British ship to take 500 tons of trade goods to the annual trade fair at Porto Bello. The British government granted a monopoly for both of the agreements to the South Sea Company. But other British merchants and bankers also wanted access to the lucrative Spanish markets of the Caribbean, and Spanish colonists in turn desired British-made goods. The result was a thriving black market in smuggled goods between industrious merchants in both countries. In an effort to curb British smugglers, Great Britain in 1729 granted Spain the right to stop and search British ships in Spanish waters to ensure that the terms of the agreements were being respected. But the smuggling continued, and the Spanish continued to board and seize British ships and take their crews prisoner, often torturing them for good measure. This led to a swell of anti-Spanish sentiment in Great Britain. In addition to smuggling in the Caribbean, another festering issue between Great Britain and Spain concerned the border dispute between British-controlled Georgia and Spanish Florida. Resolution of both issues was aggravated by patriotic bravado, the clamour of public opinion, and the personal honour of the interested monarchs, George II of England and Philip V of Spain.
An invoice shows a large number of items are ordered for James Cumberlidge to match those of the footman. On top are charges for several repairs to James's clothes, to be expected for a boy of his age. This invoice is the only incorrect reference made to James as James Cambridge.
A schoolmaster called J Stevenson is employed at Chiswick for '2 quarts' (6 months?) to teach James Cumberlidge to read, write and take accounts.
A painting of the Burlington family at home, completed in 1739 by Van Loo, shows a young boy of African heritage on the far right which is assumed to be James Cumberlidge, for whom the livery was purchased earlier that year. However, we also know that James was educated alongside two other ';Black' boys, so we can not be entirely sure that this is him. This is the only African resident at Chiswick whose features have been preserved for us. Pageboys were often employed as young as 8 or 9 and were very fashionable at the time. This would give us an estimated year of birth c1730.
The Carnatic wars were a series of military conflicts in India's coastal Carnatic region, a dependency of Hyderabad State, India. As a result of these military contests, the British East India Company established its dominance among the European trading companies within India. The French company was pushed to a corner and was confined primarily to Pondicherry. The East India Company's dominance eventually led to control by the British Company over most of India and eventually to the establishment of the British Raj.
'Rule Britannia' is performed for the first time.
Treaty ending the Maroon Wars, Jamaica. The free status of the Maroons is recognised but in return the British demand their assistance in suppressing slave rebellions and returning runaways.
At first, no questions were asked about child or parent, but a note was made of any 'particular writing, or other distinguishing mark or token' which might later be used to identify a child if reclaimed. These were often marked coins, trinkets, pieces of fabric or ribbon, playing cards, as well as verses and notes written on scraps of paper. The Foundling Hospital grew to become a very fashionable charity, and it was supported by many well known figures in high society and a number of renowned artists, thanks to one of its most influential governors, the portrait painter and cartoonist William Hogarth.
The Burlington's daughter Dorothy marries George Fitzroy, Earl of Euston.
She was described as "a girl of the softest temper, vast beauty, birth, and fortune." After she died on 2 May 1742, 7 months after her marriage, she was commemorated in a portrait by her mother, drawn from memory and engraved by John Faber, with an epitaph lamenting her marriage. Her mother said that Dorothy was relieved of the "extremest misery".
The Jacobite rising of 1745 was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart
At around 17 years old James began recording the expenses he incurred on behalf of Lady Burlington, as well as the amount he received in 'pocket money'. He also appears to have been reimbursed for items he has purchased for himself.
Charlotte marries William Cavendish, who would later become the 4th Duke of Devonshire.
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