Launched in 2021, Black Chiswick through History is an ongoing community research project, working in collaboration with local community groups, young people, historians and artists. Through it, we look more deeply at the history of Chiswick House & Gardens, drawing out stories that connect us to Black history, on both a local and a national/global level.

For 2024, the project has celebrated the lives of some of the men, women and children of African heritage associated with Chiswick House and estate in the century, focusing on the three individuals best represented in our collection and archives – Joseph Casar, Lady Burlington’s footman & messenger – James (or Jim) Cumberlidge, who rose from pageboy to publisher – and Jean Baptiste Gilbert, the infamous Duchess Georgiana’s hairdresser.

Here, historian Nadege Forde-Vidal, who has been working on the BCtH programme since its inception, delves into the story of James Cumberlidge.

It felt, at first, like we would never really get to know the real James Cumberlidge. There were too many crucial facts missing – his age, where he came from, how he came to be in England, and what became of him. But gradually tantalising snippets of information in household accounts and letters have provided us with – not just a sense of his daily life and experiences – but an insight into his character; relationships; interests, and hopes for the future.

James was taught to read, write and take accounts by the same local teacher that Lord and Lady Burlington employed to tutor their daughter, Charlotte. By his mid teens he began recording the things he bought, as well as the amount he received in ‘pocket money’ in his personal accounts. These were signed by James himself and they confirm that the man we once thought was called Cambridge was actually known to all as Cumberlidge, Jim to those who knew him best.

Jim regularly bought books, poems, sermons and pamphlets (on what topics we do not yet know) which, as Lady Burlington’s companion and confidante, he may well have read to her. There were books on topics like parliamentary history, religious theory and classical antiquity written in both English and French.

Jim’s hopes for the future become clearer when in 1755 Lady Burlington provides him with a printing press – which we can only assume was given on the basis he could publish his own work, a theory supported by the fact that, soon after, he purchases a large quantity of paper, pens and enough book binding material for 11 volumes!

What sort of books did Jim intend to write and print? Were they ever printed? What might have inspired him to follow this path?

It is a myth that the cultures of the African continent transmitted and communicated their histories, literature and poetry solely through spoken word. A myth that glosses over the fact that Africa is home to the most writing systems in the world, the first to create writing materials, extensive libraries, universities and centres of learning.

The first library was the personal project of the pharaoh Ramses II. He brought together centuries of knowledge from across the Egyptian empire and beyond, which were recorded and translated onto thousands of papyrus scrolls and clay tablets. Above the door to this collection of books it said ‘The House of Healing for the Soul’.

The Ptolemys of Egypt took the search for new knowledge to another level – using extensive trade networks from Africa to China to bring together an estimated 700,000 books and manuscripts in the Library at Alexandria, which formed part of a complex that also included a museum – attracting eminent scientists, academics and philosophers from near and far.

The first university started life as the personal project of a wealthy Moroccan heiress, Fatima al-Fihri, and is not just the oldest but the first in the world to award a degree, and it continues to operate to this day. The second was founded in Cairo c970 CE where students studied the Qur’an and Islamic law, as well as logic, grammar, rhetoric, and how to calculate the phases of the moon and it too remains one of the chief centres of learning in the world.

Many of you will already be aware of the ancient Egyptian books, written on papyrus scrolls dating back millenia, that are on display in museums across the world. But perhaps less well known is the fact that one of the oldest surviving bibles in the world, the Garima Gospels, was produced in Ethiopia in 500 CE. And maybe not very many of you will have heard about one of the most famous collections of books in West Africa, a collection gathered, copied and protected by the kings, scholars and residents of Timbuktu, Mali for more than 700 years.

Timbuktu flourished as one of the greatest cademic and commercial centres in pre-colonial Africa. From the early 14th to late 16th centuries it grew rich as two-thirds of the world’s gold passed through it, transferred from the river to trans-Saharan caravans.

Manuscripts were highly prized and sold for more money than any other merchandise in the city markets. Travellers would arrive with books known to be rare and collecting became very popular. What you couldn’t buy could be copied for you by hand by students at Timbuku’s universities. The results were vast public and private libraries containing thousands of manuscripts on every subject. There were diaries, letters between rulers and subjects; legal opinions; local histories and reams of poetry.

So, given Africa’s long love affair with Books, James’ drive to learn, his desire to write, and his intention to print his own books is as much, if not more, a legacy of his African heritage as it is a consequence of his English education.

• Find out more about the Black Chiswick through History programme here
• Explore a digital timeline, created by Year 10 students at Chiswick School, showing how the lives of Jospeh Casar, James Cumberlidge and Jean-Baptiste Gilbert intersected with local, national and global events of their time.