Black Chiswick through History: hidden stories, fascinating new insights and joyous collaborative art
Since 2021, our ongoing Black Chiswick through History project has reclaimed the impact that people of African heritage have had on UK history, and has celebrated the individuals and wider cultural influences that illuminate the fact that Black people and Black history are woven into our past, both here at Chiswick House & Gardens and more broadly.
It has been a joyous, transformative and truly collaborative project, rooted in our local Hounslow community, overseen by historian Nadege Forde-Vidal and Lead Artist/Project Manager Ayesha Weekes, and generously funded across the past four years by English Heritage, Shout out Loud, The Linbury Trust and Heritage Fund.
In previous years, the project has taken inspiration from artworks and architecture within the House itself, including the marble bust of the Afro-Roman Emperor Caracalla and the dramatic 1684 portrait by Godfrey Kneller of the Moroccan ambassador and Royal Society member Mohammed Ibin Hadou, mentioned in the London press at the time for wowing Hyde Park crowds with his horsemanship.
Working with local young people, we also looked at how the House’s classical architecture can be traced back to the glories of Ancient Egypt, including the tombs of Beni Hassan, its columns coloured at the time to resemble living papyrus. Inspired by this history, our participants “put the colour back into Chiswick House” with vivid new palettes, combining historical insights with their own personal histories, family backgrounds and local environment.
The past two years have seen a renewed focus on individuals and their stories – including that of James Cumberlidge, a page boy who later went on to become a trumpeter in the Royal Court of Kings George II and III.
Uncovering James’s life
James’s story resonates with us today, sparking intensely personal artistic, musical and emotional responses from our community partners, for a number of reasons.
One of these is perhaps the fact that, unusually for many Black people of the time, his image is captured for posterity: a young Black child, believed to be James, can be seen on the right-hand side of a 1739 portrait by Van Loo of the Burlington family.
While we don’t know for sure where he was born, James may have come to Chiswick House as young as six, starting his working life as a page boy and later going on to become an educated and well-read individual. He purchased two copies of Dr Samuel Johnson’s famous dictionary shortly after its publication, and was entrusted with a high level of responsibility on the Chiswick Estate, recording expenses for Lady Burlington and (according to one surviving document) purchasing a doll for her granddaughter in April 1753.
Recent research, carried out by Nadege Forde-Vidal, and Chatsworth, has uncovered more of his fascinating story, offering new ways for Black Chiswick through History participants to connect with James’s legacy and link it to our wider understanding of the role Black people played in 18th century Britain.
We now know, for instance, that after the death of Lady Burlington in 1758, James left Chiswick House and rose to a skilled role within the Royal Household, serving as a Trumpeter in Ordinary to King George II and later to King George III.
James held this post for almost 25 years, performing at grand ceremonial occasions and later using his income – which we estimate to have been around £150 a year, almost three times that of a skilled tradesman – to purchase land in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.
While we don’t know where or how James learned the trumpet, we do know that he played at the Royal Coronation of George III in 1761, performing Handel’s Zadok The Priest. We also know that he would have played a “natural Trumpet”: one without keys, where players must skilfully use their lips to change pitch (keys were only added later).
Our knowledge of James’s musical ability, as well as the fact that he was just one of many trumpeters of African Heritage found in the British Royal Court and Military, also sparks reflections about the wider history of the trumpet and its links to African culture: the earliest existing trumpets in the world were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. This insight was incorporated into this digital collage, created in collaboration with West London Ghanaian Association as part of the 2025 project (read more on this below).
The new research offers insights into James’s personal life, uncovering his marriage in 1754 to a woman named Mary Storey, making him stepfather to her children, as well as the fact that he took on responsibility for a young man named Kitt, who may have been a relative or a close companion.
Perhaps the most moving discovery, however, relates to James’s possible parentage: parish and legal records suggest a connection to a formerly enslaved man named Thomas, who worked for a Christopher Cumberlidge in Fulham and was granted his freedom in 1738, the year before the Van Loo portrait featuring James as a child was completed. If this holds true, it suggests that, like many other Black individuals of the time, James would have been born in Britain.
Celebrating our shared history
These new discoveries, combined with our knowledge of other Black people in the 18th century, inspired our 2024 and 2025 collaborative artworks. These include a multi-layered digital timeline, created by students from Chiswick School, that shows how the lives of James and other Black individuals connected to Chiswick House would have intersected with the lives of the Burlington and Devonshire families, as well as with relevant national and global events of the time.
This timeline has now been carefully updated to encompass all the recently uncovered events and documents relating to James Cumberlidge, including his remarkable musical role at the Royal Court.
In 2025, through a series of workshops with the West London Ghanaian Association, we also delved further into the way James’s life would have intersected with other Black people of the time, again highlighting the way these stories, and our connected past, have often been overlooked.
Producing both a striking physical collage and an animated digital collage, participants celebrated the wider Black Community in 18th Century London and the individuals who would have shaped James’s world, from Francis Barber, assistant to Samuel Johnson, to the formerly enslaved Ottobah Cugoano, who co-founded the abolitionist group Sons of Africa, to mixed-heritage aristocrat Dido Belle.
The 2025 project also saw an exciting new collaboration with Joy Nkoyo, an award-winning vocalist, songwriter, pianist and young composer with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Working with local young people, Joy led workshops exploring the sounds that may have shaped James’ world, creating a unique digital soundscape.
Listen here:
What lies ahead?
Next year, Black Chiswick through History will continue to bring hidden histories and stories like James’s to life in creative and engaging ways.
By sharing the rich history of our House and its residents, we hope to spark wider public interest in Black History and open up new opportunities for support.
This will allow us to spend more time collaborating with our local community and artists, as we uncover, explore, celebrate and connect with the Black lives and history that helped shape our world today.