The mini-series ended with Drax and Cammi back on a prison ship. Richard Drax, the Conservative MP for South Dorset, has inherited the Drax Hall plantation in Barbados after his fathers death in 2017. But to hold a wholly innocent man to account for the evils of his distant ancestors seems utterly preposterous. Its like making my great-great-great-grandchildren pay for my wrongdoings not that slavery was considered to be wrong back then. The Erle family had owned Charborough House, Dorset, since the C16th and through the marriage, Drax took possession of it. [8], He relinquished his British Army commission on 9 September 1987, thereby retiring after nine years' service as a Coldstreamer. The Buff Bay plantation was a sugar estate next to the Buff Bay River, south of Charlestown in Jamaica. But the shadow of slavery hangs over the gilded life of Richard Drax, adding that The hardline Tory Brexiters family made a fortune from their Caribbean plantations where thousands died. Now, Drax faces urgent calls for reparations. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Nurses leader: we dont have enough staff to keep all our patients safe. Contact Richard Drax This section contains web, social and other contact information for Richard Drax. [30] The Reparations Commission wants Drax Hall to be returned to Barbados, to be made into a museum. Dont they have a responsibility as well?. They had 7 children: John Drax, Richard Draxand 5 other children. Clive Stafford Smith organised fictional legal proceedings against Richard Drax using 40 pupils aged between 12 and 18, some of whom are from a school within his South Dorset constituency. Drax married his second wife; Eliza, daughter of Commander James Dugdale RN (related to David Cameron). Drax has not yet declared the land or its properties in the parliamentary register of members interests. In Bridgetowns newly republican corridors of power, there is, of course, a wholly different viewpoint. [24], He endorsed Boris Johnson in the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election. After germination, transplant carefully, keeping the cardboard capsule intact, to a deep ridge or large straight-sided pot. His father died in 2017.. We've been true to that purpose since brothers Henry and Richard Bloch founded our company in 1955. To burden a son with his fathers sins is egregious enough. The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. The Mirror's newsletter brings you the latest news, exciting showbiz and TV stories, sport updates and essential political information. Pippa Middleton's seven-month-old daughter Rose 'has been christened at her local village church in Nightmare! "[19][20], In June 2020, Drax wrote an article in the Dorset Echo suggesting that rioters linked to the Black Lives Matter protests had been responsible for desecrating The Cenotaph war memorial in London. The MP for South Dorset, Richard Drax, has inherited the 250-hectare Drax Hall plantation in Barbados from his father, inquiries by the Observer have established. Chinese labourers (paid less than the Barbadian minimum wage) construct yuan-funded roads and buildings. In reviewing the entries I realised an agricultural property transferred from my mother to me after my fathers death had not been included on the register. [1] One only had to watch the parade to see what he meant. The plantation relied on slaves for almost 200 years and the MP said his ancestors involvement was regrettable. ), became owner of Drax Hall. He cant be allowed to get away with this, Mr Denny told me this week. Drax retained his seat in the 2015 general election with an increased majority and the 2017 general election. This article was amended on 13 December 2020 because an earlier version referred to the Caribbean Reparations Commission (Caricom) To clarify: Caricom is the Caribbean Community, an organisation of fifteen states and dependencies throughout the Caribbean. Drax married his second wife; Eliza, daughter of Commander James Dugdale RN (related to David Cameron) in 1998. Ex-Lib Dem leader Vince Cable said: I hope the recently further-enriched Mr Drax pays some attention to polite representations from the Caribbean Community Reparations Commission. The MP for South Dorset, Richard Drax, has inherited the 250-hectare Drax Hall plantation in Barbados from his father, inquiries by the Observer have established. The Drax family also owned slave plantations in Jamaica, which they sold in the mid-1800s. View popular celebrities life details, birth signs and real ages. Slavery was the business of buying and selling. CITING THIS RECORD:'Edward Drax', Legacies of British Slavery database, http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146643067 [accessed 2nd March 2023]. But the shadow of slavery hangs over the gilded life of Richard Drax, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. The Drax Hall Plantation in Barbados was added to the Register of Members Interests on December 11 days after we told the MP we were running a story. This might sound controversial coming from a black person, he began, but there are many parts to the slavery story. In Barbados, production is now subsidised by the government, and heavy rainfall reduced last years yield at Drax Hall to just 7,000 tonnes of raw cane (producing 700 tonnes of sugar). [1] He was educated at Harrow School before going to the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester where he graduated with a diploma in rural land management in 1990, receiving a further diploma in journalism in 1995. In the centre of the park is the Grade I-listed mansion. Tweet. Sir James Drax, who hailed from a humble Warwickshire family, had just 300 when he sailed to Barbados with his brother, aged 18. Sir Hilary Beckles, a prominent Barbadian historian of slavery, said Drax must acknowledge the wealth brought to the family by slavery. .] Discover today's celebrity birthdays and explore famous people who share your birthday. About Richard. Charborough House, Dorset, Wessex, England, Olantigh, Wye, Kent, South-east England, England, http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2011/01/three-cheers-for-sawbridge-drax/, http://lh.matthewbeckett.com/houses/lh_kent_olantightowers.html, Occupations of enslaved women on Buff Bay Plantation, 1819, http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2246. EXCLUSIVE: Richard Drax replaced a decade of accounts for four farming firms revealing hundreds of thousands of pounds of undisclosed business. For full article, see https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/12/hes-the-mp-with-the-downton-abbey-lifestyle-but-the-shadow-of-slavery-hangs-over-the-gilded-life-of-richard-drax. His first wife (divorced 1997) was Zara Legge-Bourke, younger sister of the royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke, relations of the Earl of Dartmouth. We might ask, for example, why the Barbadian authorities rage against one former colonial master while cosying ever closer to a very current one, in the form of China. It was suggested the then leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, had asked wealthy Conservative candidates to shorten their names to appear more in touch with normal people. Oxford and Glasgow universities gave 100,000 and 20million respectively to Caribbean counterparts after it emerged they received donations linked to slavery. Occupations of enslaved women on Buff Bay Plantation, 1819, http://wwwdepts-live.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146643067. He then gestured towards a disused windmill made from slabs of limestone hewn from a nearby quarry. The Draxes devised a commercial sugar plantation model, worked by slaves brought from Africa, that was immensely lucrative and copied across the West Indies and theAmericas. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. Such was Sir Jamess wealth that in 1650 he built the plantation house Drax Hall that still stands today and in which he lived, according to an eyewitness, like a prince. We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous Politician. Mr Drax had asked for their discussions to be private, Im told, but he arrived to find Ms Mottley accompanied by a coterie of messianic reparations campaigners. The shame and despair of being physically attacked by your own child, Do not sell or share my personal information. To restate its commitment to recruit 50,000 nurses by the end of the current parliament not only fails to respond to the immediate shortages but also takes no account of the fact that the target was set before the onset of the pandemic. Lynne added, "Richard Drax is immensely wealthywith wealth exceeding 150 million. Free person of colour, slave-owner in Jamaica. Mr Drax has no plans to return any time soon.. But then, as I have learnt while investigating this story very much of-the-moment, in a week when the British royals are mired in another race furore it is a saga rife with dubious reasoning and double standards. Drax was promoted lieutenant on 9 December 1980, before being transferred to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers after active service on 9 December 1983, ending his first period of full-time military service. Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 62 years old? His brother William took their methods to Jamaica where the former plantation area is also still known as Drax Hall. [13], In 2009, Drax faced criticism from political rivals for 'hiding his aristocratic roots' by not using his full quadruple-barrelled name. Never miss a moment by signing up to our newsletter here. So, how much is Richard Drax worth at the age of 64 years old? Tax Justice Network chief Alex Cobham said of Mr Draxs new records: Its difficult to see how this error could have been made in a way that was neither knowing nor reckless.. They are only going after him because he is the last colonial owner.. Christianwas born circa 1341, in Yorkshire, England. Until 2008 the plantations covered some 880 acres, but the Draxes have sold more than 200 acres, some for housing development. His properties stretch from North Yorkshire to Dorset, where he lives in a Grade I-listed stately home with some 14,000 acres and his estimated worth is 150 million. The current owner is Richard Drax, a British member of parliament, who inherited the property after the death of his father, Henry Walter Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (1928-2017), a former High Sheriff of Dorset. Tending his garden, not far from the plantation, Arthur Thomas, a retired teacher well-versed in the history of slavery, bravely opened an unspoken aspect of the debate. Richard Draxs 17th-century ancestors James and William sailed toBarbadosin the late 1620s, where they cleared lush land in the centre of the island and experimented with growing and processing sugar. Richard Drax registered the details as the Sunday Mirror revealed his ancestors' past - and how he still makes a packet from the business. He also owns a 4.5m holiday villa on nearby Sandbanks, which is rented out at up to 6,734 a week in peak season. Medic who doctored his pay and swindled 68,000 from the NHS Nurses are prepared to walk out of A&E and not provide Grinning and bearing it? Copyright Legacies of British Slavery - UCL Department of History 2023. [2][3], Drax passed out from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned in the British Army joining the Coldstream Guards on 9 December 1978 as a second lieutenant. About Richard Erle-Drax-Grosvenor, MP. The mainly 17th-century mansion with its 120ft folly tower is the model for Welland House in the Thomas Hardy novelTwo on a Tower. We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 29 January. The MP for the nearby corrupt borough of Wareham, Dorset, he appears to have never said anything in the Commons save for asking the Speaker that a window be opened (though this story may be apocryphal). Companies House said failure to keep records updated could result in action. But the shadow of slavery hangs over the gilded life of Richard Drax, Wealthy MP urged to pay up for his familys slave trade past. He should not be denied credit for setting in train one of the great social policy changes of the 20th century.Terry PhilpotLimpsfield Chart, Surrey. Richard Drax - or to give him his full name, Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax - is the MP for South Dorset, owner of the Charborough Estate, and by my reckoning, the largest individual landowner in Dorset. Richard Drax registered the details as the Sunday Mirror revealed his ancestors past and how he still makes a packet from the business. In June hesaid of the Black Lives Matter protests: The desecration of the Cenotaph by rioters two weeks ago, on the actual D-Day anniversary, was beyond ironic. He is vociferous on immigration, too. He holds the lordship of the manor of Longburton[citation needed] and is the largest individual landowner in Dorset, owning approximately 13,870 acres (5,610ha), equivalent to 2% of the land in Dorset. . My parents died in short succession and administration of both estates is ongoing. "The Drax family has done more harm and violence to the black people of Barbados than any other", he said. Richard enjoyed a variety of activities, ranging from ceremonial duties, such as Trooping . In 1827 he married Jane, the daughter of Richard Erle-Drax Grosvenor and a member of the Drax family which was so prominent among the slave-owners of Barbados. Many Barbadians regard the original owner of this eponymous pile, Sir James Drax, as the devil incarnate. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. His first home was a cave and his early farming ventures failed. We are a people company first and a tax company second. To provide help and inspire confidence in our clients and communities everywhere. Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (born 29 January 1958), known as Richard Drax, is a British Conservative politician, journalist, landowner and former British Army officer, serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dorset since 2010. Richard Drax MP was one of the first MPs to call for the criminalisation of trespass. Richard Drax must live on a different planet to the many of his constituents desperately struggling to make ends meet. Since his wealth is based on murder, kidnap and theft, the least he can do is return his plantation in Barbados to its rightful owners, the people who live there now. You drive in and it looks like a plantation might look back in the 17th century. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. 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He is a privileged person to have this in his gift.Angela SingerCambridge, It is perhaps to be expected, but nevertheless disappointing, that after generations of his family enjoying so much more than their fair share of the fruits of nature and the labour of others, including slaves, Richard Drax seems unable to rise above himself and take some responsibility, as a few more honourable others have done, for the cost to his fellow humans, past and present, of his inherited property, accumulated wealth and self-serving politics. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Cut in half, fill with potting compost, insert one seed in the centre, lightly cover and keep moist. Richard Draxs family profited on the backs of black slaves for many generations. This is home to Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, the Conservative MP for South Dorset, who lives in the palatial Grade I-listed Charborough House, hidden from public view within the 700-acre private grounds. Clearly there are some glaring contradictions to all this. A cousin is the 19th and present Lord Dunsany. Mr Drax, 63, is believed to be the wealthiest landowner in the House of Commons, with 5,600 hectares of farmland and woodlands, and is worth about 150million. 1462): the second oldest title in the Peerage of Ireland. I'm a Feng Shui expert and these are the three things I will never allow in a bedroom. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. The answer is that civil servants and ministers had no education to prepare them for the world of negotiating and managing commercial contracts. [18], During the 2019 UK General Election Drax apologised after his Land Rover, with a campaign poster on the vehicle, was photographed parking across two disabled parking spaces outside his campaign headquarters. 207-11 (entry for John Samuel Wanley Drax-Erle Sawbridge of Charborough). Official documentation shows the MP now controls Drax Hall Plantation. In the Chinese capital, there is even a Barbados development office, these days. The Draxes also owned a slave plantation in Jamaica which they sold in the 18th century. Iniquitously, the government paid the 45,000 Britons still owning slaves at the start of Queen Victorias reign vast sums in compensation for giving them up. Drax is the eldest son of Henry Walter Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (19282017)JP DL and The Hon. Powells was a constructive and humane challenge to the entrenched attitudes of psychiatric and nursing professionals. [25], Drax lives in his family's ancestral seat, Charborough House a Grade I listed manor house in rural Dorset. He said it was a technical infringement, now corrected. For, around 370 years ago, he also pioneered the importation of African slaves to cultivate his lucrative crop. Following his death in 1887 the house and estate at Olantigh passed to his nephew, Wanley Ellis Sawbridge-Erle-Drax, who again shared his time between Charborough and Olantigh, until 1903 when the house burnt down. From the very early stages of the familys involvement in slavery and the sugar trade, through the career of Sir James Drax in Barbados during the 17th century, the Drax dynasty were able to generate extraordinary wealth through the cultivation of sugar by enslaved Africans.. The Dutch also gave him the idea to replace the indentured English and Irish servants who worked his land with imported Africans, whom he deemed able to do the work of three white men. Now he could be on the hook for reparations", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Drax&oldid=1139014260, This page was last edited on 12 February 2023, at 22:40. By 1839, the estate was 840 acres. 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