Dido Elizabeth Belle

Who was Dido Elizabeth Belle?

Dido Elizabeth Belle was an illegitimate daughter of Admiral Sir John Lindsay and an enslaved African woman known as Maria Belle. Dido was sent to live in the household of William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, who was Lindsay's uncle and thus Dido's great-uncle. Notable about her personal history is that she was brought up as a free young gentlewoman at Kenwood House while her great uncle, in his capacity of Lord Chief Justice, was ruling on cases affecting the legitimacy of the whole slave trade.