Content warning: This page deals with the subject of slavery and contains discriminatory language taken directly from original archive sources which today is considered offensive. Where wording is taken directly from an original archive source it is used in context and in inverted commas to distinguish it as contemporary to the period in question.
Britain has a rich and extensive multicultural past that has shaped its identity as a whole over the centuries. 妖精动漫 History Centre holds key documents that help uncover the story of Black History in the county, and some of these relate to the remarkable life of Cesar Picton (1755 to 1836). Cesar Picton was a successful businessman and coal merchant, who, for much of his life lived in Kingston, Thames Ditton and elsewhere, close to the River Thames in 妖精动漫. However, it is important to look at Cesar's origins, which despite his later successes in life and business, involve him being forcibly brought to Britain as a child from Africa. Much of the).
Cesar was born into a Muslim family in Senegal in 1755. In 1761, as a small boy with an unknown name, he was taken from Senegal and transported to Britain on Captain John Parr's ship and presented as a gift to Sir John Philipps, along with a parakeet and an African duck. We do not know if he lived in Senegal originally; he might have been taken from somewhere else. Senegal had well-established enslaved markets but we can only speculate as to whether Parr purchased the boy, and how he came to have custody of him. Cesar was christened by the Rev Dr Philipps on Sunday 6 December 1761.
In June 1762, Cesar was taken to Picton Castle, Pembrokeshire. Although he was apparently welcomed as a member of the Phillips family, Cesar was educated and trained as a personal servant. However, he was treated rather differently. Like other Black servants of upper class employers, he may have been dressed in an exotic fashion and worn a turban. Cesar lived with the Philipps family for many years. Whilst infinitely preferable to enslaved life on a plantation, Cesar was still denied his name and a life in his country of origin, with his family and own culture. Lady Philipps died when Cesar was about 33, and left him the large sum of 拢100 in her will. He also received legacies from her daughters on their deaths.
After he received his inheritance from Lady Philipps, the family sold Norbiton Place and the daughters moved to Hampton Court. Cesar rented a modest house in Kingston and at some point in 1788, he bought the house and assumed the surname 'Picton' from the name of the castle where he spent his early years. Intriguingly, Cesar was never active in the abolitionist movement, and was never a signatory of letters and petitions concerning the slave trade. Sir John had an interest in, and connections to, the coal industry, undoubtedly sparking Cesar's choice of business. In 1816 he bought a large cottage in Thames Ditton for the astonishing sum of 拢400, far above his inheritance, showing he had become a wealthy businessman.
Cesar Picton died on 10 June 1836, aged 81, a wealthy and respected man, and was buried in All Saint's Church in Kingston. In the will of the wealthy William Porter in 1807, he is described as 'Caesar Picton of Tullworth, gentleman', suggesting his rise up the social ladder. Picton's own will (transcribed in a KUTAS study, reference 8263/2/7) features prominent names such as his goddaughter, Sarah Lock Pinner, who married William Pamphillon, a mayor of Kingston in the 1850s, and mentions expensive items such as a tortoiseshell tea chest with a silver caddy-spoon and a horse and chaise. His funeral was modest, with no more than 8 mourners, but his coffin required 10 bearers instead of the usual 4 to 6 ().
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Sources
- Kingston-upon-Thames Archaeological Society, 'Picton House and the People Connected with It', Occasional Papers 2 (1979) (reference 8263/2/7)
- Dabydeen, Gilmore & Jones, The Oxford Companion to Black British History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007)
Images
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- Blue plaque on Picton House, Thames Ditton