Reflections on Black Chiswick through History in 2024, from historian Nadege Forde-Vidal

As the seasons change, the team at Chiswick House and Gardens are busy preparing for the winter ahead, but also taking time to reflect on the year gone by.

From a Black Chiswick through History point of view, this year’s exhibition really seemed to capture everyone’s attention. The display, celebrating some of the African residents of the house, included artwork, spoken word, biographies and a timeline – all created in collaboration with young people from Hogarth Community Centre, Chiswick School and Speak Easy and brought to life by the Brixton based charity Poetic Unity, alongside artists Jaixia Blue and Ayesha Weekes.

Poetic Unity collaborated with young people at Hogarth Community Centre to create impressive spoken word poems that spotlighted themes of identity, historical presence and belonging. 

James Cumberlidge (Poetic Unity)

Joseph Casar (Poetic Unity)

A number of visits to our archives at Chatsworth, combined with in depth online research and a new report by Dr Edward Town, led to several incredible new discoveries which have allowed us to really get to know Joseph Casar, James Cumberlidge and Jean Baptiste Gilbert. Uncovering unexpected facts that reveal the incredible extent of their achievements and intimate details of family life.

Parish and legal records revealed that James Cumberlidge may have been connected to an enslaved man called Thomas who worked for Christopher Cumberlidge in Fulham until he was given his freedom in 1738, the year before the Van Loos portrait of James was completed. Could Thomas have been James’ father? If so, James was one of a growing number of Black British born individuals that had played an important role in British society since the mid 1500s.

A marriage certificate, dated to 1754 revealed that James married a Mary Storey in his mid twenties, at the same time he was listed as Lady Burlington’s footman, alongside his friend James Busby. A note discovered in Surrey archives sheds more light on James and Mary’s relationship, revealing that the 4th Duke assisted their union by providing Mary with urgent funds, and stating that she had several children of her own.

Thanks to new research conducted by Dr Edward Town for Chatsworth we have learned much more about James – including the fact that he took responsibility for the care of a young man called Kitt, who also appears to have worked at Chiswick, and was described by David Garrick as his ‘Brother’. Whether this term reflects a blood connection or sense of kinship through shared experience, we may never know.

We now know that James’ life took a dramatic turn after Lady Burlington’s death in 1758. Rising the ranks once again, this time to heady heights, and showing yet more skill and ambition he takes on a role in the Royal Household as trumpeter in ordinary to King George II and a year later to King George III.

His name is even listed on British History Online website, with those that took the position in the same year.

It looks as if James stayed in the Royal Household for about 20 years. He played on ceremonial occasions, including coronations, funerals, installations and proclamations of war, peace and new reigns. There were 16 trumpeters up to about 1770, but numbers and pay (estimated at nearly £150 per annum including fees of honour) were reduced by almost half from the 1780s, perhaps motivating James to retire to Surrey, just a short distance away from work at Hampton Court.

This vast income, almost three years wages for a skilled tradesman, enabled James to buy land in Walton on Thames, Surrey. He leased some of this land for a time, before selling it to Sir John Frederick. Records show James lived in a property in Walton owned by Henry East in 1780, moving to the house and land of Arthur Cempland a few years later presumably with his wife and their children.

We can even see who his neighbours were! It would be amazing to find out what his house and land were like and what life was like in the Cumberlidge household.

James appears to have also been blessed with a son, or maybe grandson, as St Mary Church in Walton lists the baptism of a James Cumberlidge in 1781. The mother’s name is given as Elizabeth though, not Mary. She may have been a daughter in law, or given the fragility of life at the time, James’ second wife.

5 years later in 1788 James’ name was replaced in the tax lists with that of Widow Cumberlidge – suggesting James had passed away at an estimated age of 60. James’ son, or grandson, was still living in Walton until 1861 which means there may still be Cumberlidge descendants living in the area today.

• 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.
• 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.