Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey Listener discretion advised.
Speaker 1: The story of this episode begins with a portrait. Two
Speaker 1: girls are posing in a green garden, a garden in
Speaker 1: which you can see the dome of London's Saint Paul's
Speaker 1: Cathedral in the distance. On the right and slightly in
Speaker 1: the foreground, sits a young woman on a bench. Her
Speaker 1: dress looks a bit like a pastry, a pink puff
Speaker 1: covered in the sugary icing of a semi sheer fabric.
Speaker 1: The girl's neck is adorned with a coiled strand of pearls.
Speaker 1: Her cool toned, pale cheeks are flushed, and her hair,
Speaker 1: styled low, is arnished with over a dozen small roses.
Speaker 1: With her left hand, her thumb holds her place in
Speaker 1: a book, the book's painted edges matching the rosy color
Speaker 1: of her confectionery dress. With the girl's right hand, she
Speaker 1: holds onto the arm of another young woman, someone she
Speaker 1: wants close by. The second woman is positioned slightly behind
Speaker 1: her seated companion and appears to be in a carefree motion,
Speaker 1: eager to explore her surroundings. Once the hours of portrait
Speaker 1: sitting are complete. This woman's dress is a lushly draped
Speaker 1: silk satin wrap, the champagne to her companions cake. She
Speaker 1: also wears a tight strand of pearls, though hers are
Speaker 1: slightly larger, which matched the girl's incredibly enviable pair of
Speaker 1: pearl babble earrings. The second woman's cheeks also have a
Speaker 1: rosy blush, but as opposed to her sitting hates, her
Speaker 1: complexion is warm and dark. Her hair is also worn
Speaker 1: low but a top. It sits a silk turban adorned
Speaker 1: with a teal ostrich feather. With her left hand, she
Speaker 1: carries a basket of fruit, overflowing with grapes, pears, and
Speaker 1: what look to be peaches. With her right hand, she
Speaker 1: touches her cheek with her index finger, highlighting a slightly
Speaker 1: mischievous smile. These two girls are cousins, Lady Mary Elizabeth
Speaker 1: and Dido Elizabeth Bell. It's a beautiful portrait. The colors
Speaker 1: are romantic, the texture of the clothing is gorgeously rendered,
Speaker 1: and the air of contentedness imbued portrays a clear sisterly love.
Speaker 1: The portraits fame, however, stems from the obvious It's a
Speaker 1: portrait of society ladies from the seventeen hundreds, in which
Speaker 1: one of the women is black, and she isn't in
Speaker 1: a position of servitude. No, Instead, the cousins are portrayed
Speaker 1: as relative equals, neither stands out to the viewer's eye
Speaker 1: more than the other. While the painting does not tell
Speaker 1: the story of Didobell's life, I believe it's important to
Speaker 1: start with as it's this painting that gave Idobell new
Speaker 1: life in modern culture. The lovely two thousand thirteen film Bell,
Speaker 1: an embellished biopic of Dido's life, was born when screenwriter
Speaker 1: Missan Saga discovered the portrait on display at Scon Palace
Speaker 1: and knew there had to be more to the story
Speaker 1: than the portraits label Lady Elizabeth Murray and Dido the
Speaker 1: Housekeeper's daughter. Dido has also had an even more recent
Speaker 1: resurgence in our own cultural imagination thanks to the popularity
Speaker 1: of Netflix. Bridgerton, which portrays an integrated regency society and
Speaker 1: has spurred headlines like Britain's Black Presence isn't total fan
Speaker 1: to see, it's hidden history. Hidden history is pretty accurate,
Speaker 1: though we have a much better picture than we once did.
Speaker 1: There isn't an abundance of information on Dido's real life,
Speaker 1: and in this case, the truth often sounds like fiction.
Speaker 1: There are remarkable ways that parts of Dido's story seem
Speaker 1: like well, a movie. In this sense, the Mona Lisa
Speaker 1: smile in her portrait is all the more fascinating all
Speaker 1: the secrets she holds that will never know. I'm a
Speaker 1: Danis Schwartz and this is noble blood. In seventeen sixty one,
Speaker 1: an English ship called the h MS Trent docked in
Speaker 1: the West Indies. It was captained by Sir John Lindsay,
Speaker 1: a naval officer and younger son of a baronet. Younger
Speaker 1: sons had limited options to make name for themselves, and
Speaker 1: the navy was often a solid choice. Sir John Lindsay
Speaker 1: was doing just that, earning prestige in the Seven Years War.
Speaker 1: The fruit of that labor was his being made Captain
Speaker 1: of the Trent in seventeen fifty seven, where his job
Speaker 1: was mainly to capture Spanish ships in both English and
Speaker 1: West Indies water. Years later, stories would be told back
Speaker 1: home in England about one of Lindsay's missions. They said
Speaker 1: that aboard one of these Spanish ships, he took a
Speaker 1: liking to a woman, a slave. The woman's name was Maria,
Speaker 1: and she became his mistress. The legitimacy of the story
Speaker 1: is questionable, but it's as plausible a meeting as any
Speaker 1: other explanation. The Trent did keep records of slaves from
Speaker 1: captured ships, now essentially prisoners of war, but the name
Speaker 1: Maria specifically never pops up. We also know from these
Speaker 1: records that men of these prisoners who had been captured
Speaker 1: in Havannah were discharged in seventeen sixty three onto a
Speaker 1: place called Bell Island. If the telephone version of events
Speaker 1: does have any truth to it, and Maria was one
Speaker 1: of these Havannah prisoners, Bell Island could in theory play
Speaker 1: an etymological role in the story of Dido Elizabeth Bell.
Speaker 1: What we know for sure is that Dido was born
Speaker 1: to an enslaved woman, most likely called Maria, and Sir
Speaker 1: John Lindsay in seventeen sixty one. Dido was likely born
Speaker 1: at sea, and Maria likely remained on board the Trent
Speaker 1: with Lindsay until the ship was decommissioned in seventeen sixty three.
Speaker 1: At the end of the war. Regulations and instructions relating
Speaker 1: to his Majesty's service at seas. Article thirty eight of
Speaker 1: the Rules for Captains and Commander states that quote, he
Speaker 1: is not to very women, to see, nor entertain any
Speaker 1: foreigners to serve in the ship without orders from the
Speaker 1: Admiralty end quote. John Lindsay certainly would have had a
Speaker 1: copy of that manual, but it's possible he just skimmed it.
Speaker 1: It does seem kind of dry. You may be shocked
Speaker 1: to hear that. There was evidently a lot of skimming
Speaker 1: of the rule book. It was not uncommon for wives
Speaker 1: and mistresses to be aboard Royal Navy ships. It was
Speaker 1: even the origin of the phrase son of a gun.
Speaker 1: It was also not uncommon for a child to be
Speaker 1: born to an enslaved woman and an englishman. The English,
Speaker 1: with their ever enduring love of micro classifications and deeply
Speaker 1: arbitrary rules, had devised a system of identifying these children.
Speaker 1: A quote Mulatto described the offspring of a white and
Speaker 1: black pairing, a sambo referred to that of a mulatto
Speaker 1: and black pairing, and a quadroon was yet another category
Speaker 1: for that of a mulatto and white pairing. Because of
Speaker 1: the inherent drastic power dynamics of the parents in these cases,
Speaker 1: many of whom would have been slaves and slave masters.
Speaker 1: Many of these children were often the product of rape
Speaker 1: or coercion. We don't know the details of the relationship
Speaker 1: between John and Maria, nor the details of Dido's conception,
Speaker 1: just as we know next to nothing about Maria herself.
Speaker 1: The extent of Lindsay's affection for his daughter, however, leads
Speaker 1: historians to believe there was at least some form of
Speaker 1: fondness on his end for Dido's mother. If it had
Speaker 1: not been for this fondness, though, what would have happened
Speaker 1: to Dido. Most children in her situation, that is, born
Speaker 1: into slavery with the distinction of being called quote mulatto,
Speaker 1: were often treated differently than field slaves and became housekeepers
Speaker 1: or seamstresses or wet nurses to white babies. There was
Speaker 1: nothing particularly unique about the circumstances of Dido's birth. The
Speaker 1: uniqueness of her life would come later. Understanding that uniqueness
Speaker 1: requires discussing John Lindsay's lineage a bit more. His father,
Speaker 1: Sir Alexander Lindsay, was the third Baronet of evil ex
Speaker 1: and his mother Amelia Murray was the daughter of the
Speaker 1: Viscount of Stormont. More importantly to our story, however, is
Speaker 1: that she was the sister to William Murray, first Earl
Speaker 1: of Mansfield, also known as the Lord, Chief Justice and
Speaker 1: Master of his domain at Kenwood. Lord Mansfield was an
Speaker 1: incredibly powerful man, now referred to as the most powerful
Speaker 1: British justice of the century, and it is he who
Speaker 1: was responsible for pushing forward many of England's abolitionist reforms.
Speaker 1: It was a critical time in English history, and Dido's
Speaker 1: great uncle was the man with the power to change everything.
Speaker 1: Ken Would, the estate Lord Mansfield acquired for four thousand
Speaker 1: pounds in seventeen fifty four, would be Dido's home. It
Speaker 1: was there that she was raised as an englishwoman by
Speaker 1: the Lord and his wife, Elizabeth Finch. The understanding we
Speaker 1: can construct of the Man's fields is that they were
Speaker 1: both serious looking people who were unexpectedly caring and funny.
Speaker 1: There was a bust sculpted of Lady Mansfield that portrays
Speaker 1: her sternness, but her surviving letters reflect a woman full
Speaker 1: of warmth and humor. Even the powerful law man, Lord
Speaker 1: Mansfield apparently didn't take himself too seriously. There's an account
Speaker 1: of a visit to Kenwood from a relative who said
Speaker 1: of the Chief Justice quote, he says, with the gravest face,
Speaker 1: the most comical things imaginable end quote. The couple was happy,
Speaker 1: but they were unable to have children. Elizabeth was thirty
Speaker 1: four when she married her husband, considerably past society's ideal
Speaker 1: age for marriage and childbirth at the time, but she
Speaker 1: would still end up with two surrogate daughters. Some time
Speaker 1: before these arrangements, Lord Mansfield, recognizing that the couple would
Speaker 1: not have children of their own, decided that he would
Speaker 1: leave his estate to his nephew, David, the new Viscount Stormont.
Speaker 1: Letters reveal he was very close to both his uncle
Speaker 1: and aunt, some of which comes from his time abroad
Speaker 1: as an envoy in Warsaw. In seventeen fifty nine, there,
Speaker 1: in a love match, he married a young widow and
Speaker 1: the daughter of a Saxon diplomat, a woman named Henrietta
Speaker 1: Frederica de Beauregard. A year later, the couple had a daughter, Elizabeth,
Speaker 1: which you may have noticed was a favored name for
Speaker 1: Murray women. Only six years later, Henrietta died at twenty nine,
Speaker 1: and the loss seemed to have triggered a nervous breakdown
Speaker 1: in David. Between his mental state and diplomatic duties, he
Speaker 1: was not in a position to adequately care for six
Speaker 1: year old Elizabeth, who looked so much like her deceased mother,
Speaker 1: So the girl was brought to Kenwood and placed in
Speaker 1: the care of her father's beloved aunt and uncle. Here's
Speaker 1: quite the NEPO baby anecdote. With his daughter in England, David,
Speaker 1: no doubt, thanks to the influence of his powerful uncle,
Speaker 1: actually became ambassador to France from seventeen seventy two until
Speaker 1: seventeen seventy eight, and was actually a confidante to Louis
Speaker 1: the sixteenth and Marie Antoinette. If you heard that date
Speaker 1: above and it sparked something in your brain, you're right.
Speaker 1: He timed his exit pretty much perfectly. David also eventually
Speaker 1: remarried a woman thirty years younger than him, and when
Speaker 1: the couple and the five children they had together moved
Speaker 1: back to England, Elizabeth continued to stay with her aunt,
Speaker 1: uncle and cousin Dido. We don't actually know whether Dido
Speaker 1: or Elizabeth arrived at Kenwood first, but many historians believe
Speaker 1: it was possible Dido was accepted into the home as
Speaker 1: a companion for Elizabeth. As is the case with many
Speaker 1: stories in Dido's life, we know the outcomes, but not
Speaker 1: the circumstances. She was likely left in the care of
Speaker 1: the Murrays so her father could continue his military career,
Speaker 1: and it's worth noting again how remarkable it was at
Speaker 1: the time that he brought Dido back to London in
Speaker 1: the first place, and to add to those remarkable circumstances,
Speaker 1: the fact that Lord and Lady Mansfield accepted Dido into
Speaker 1: their home as their own blood. The only surviving account
Speaker 1: mentioning Dido's birth reads quote Sir John Lindsay, having taken
Speaker 1: her mother prisoner in a Spanish vessel, brought her to England,
Speaker 1: where she delivered of this girl and then with child.
Speaker 1: This was written by a visitor to Kenwood, seemingly recounting
Speaker 1: the story as told to him by Lord Mansfield, but
Speaker 1: it's hard to piece together how accurate that version of
Speaker 1: events actually is. It doesn't seem to line up with
Speaker 1: the dates we hear in other accounts, including Dido's birth
Speaker 1: in seventeen sixty one and Lindsay's return to England in
Speaker 1: seventeen sixty five. Speaking of dates, our first dated record
Speaker 1: of Dido being in England comes from the November seventeen
Speaker 1: sixty six baptismal Register of St George's, Bloomsbury. The record
Speaker 1: lists the names of children, the names of their parents,
Speaker 1: and their birth dates, all relative really close to the
Speaker 1: date of baptism, with one exception. Twenty on the list
Speaker 1: is one Dido Elizabeth, daughter of Bell and Maria, his wife,
Speaker 1: aged five years. Though this mysterious Bell is odd, it
Speaker 1: would be odder if there was another Dido Elizabeth, sharing
Speaker 1: the name of the African queen of legend and the
Speaker 1: Murray family women at the Murray's parish in eighteenth century England,
Speaker 1: baptism took place as close to a child's birth as possible,
Speaker 1: fearing the statistically likely possibility of an early death. With
Speaker 1: this information, we can probably conclude that Dido arrived in
Speaker 1: the Mansfield's care, if not England, at five years old
Speaker 1: and around the same time as her cousin. It's also
Speaker 1: possible she was brought into their care as an infant
Speaker 1: and they only decided to baptize her upon the arrival
Speaker 1: of Elizabeth. When it was decided that the two girls
Speaker 1: would be brought up together. There's no record of Maria
Speaker 1: having ever been in London, so we will never know
Speaker 1: which version of events is true. The Bell listed is
Speaker 1: likely a pseudonym for Lindsay, due to both his being
Speaker 1: absent at the baptism and dido status as a bastard.
Speaker 1: In official documents going forward, Dido would always be referred
Speaker 1: to as Dido. Elizabeth Bell spelled b E l l E,
Speaker 1: a feminized version of her father's fake name, meaning beautiful.
Speaker 1: So here we are at Kenwood with a unique family dynamic.
Speaker 1: One of the most powerful men in England, his wife,
Speaker 1: and they're two great nieces, one of whom is both
Speaker 1: half black and illegitimate. Originally a country house for the couple,
Speaker 1: Lord and Lady Mansfield decided the estate just outside of
Speaker 1: London would be the permanent residence at which they would
Speaker 1: raise the two girls. To give you an idea of
Speaker 1: the kind of life Kenwood provided Dido and Elizabeth, here's
Speaker 1: some information taken from an inventory of the estate in
Speaker 1: eighteen thirty one. Kenwood contained over eighty rooms, which included
Speaker 1: a music room, a schoolroom, the Japan Room, the clock room,
Speaker 1: the long gallery, the white room, the Pink Room, the
Speaker 1: Blue Room. You get the idea. There there was also
Speaker 1: a list of possessions such as Turkish rugs, fine china,
Speaker 1: and a collection of oil paintings. This was only the interior.
Speaker 1: Kenwood was also known for its exquisite gardens, which also
Speaker 1: happened to be the location of the famous portrait Lord
Speaker 1: Mansfield commissioned of his great nieces. While we don't have
Speaker 1: recorded accounts of the education of the two girls specifically,
Speaker 1: it's fairly certain they received the standard education of young
Speaker 1: women of their status, likely basic reading and writing, along
Speaker 1: with the skills befitting of an accomplished woman such as
Speaker 1: needle point, piano and dancing. This education was designed not
Speaker 1: for solely enriching the minds of these young women, of course,
Speaker 1: but to prepare them for the marriage market, making them
Speaker 1: as desirable candidates as possible. Will circle back to the
Speaker 1: conversation of marriage in Dido and Elizabeth's lives in a
Speaker 1: bit from later account. We know Dido and Elizabeth were
Speaker 1: great friends, and you can imagine the kind of bond
Speaker 1: that forms between two cousins only a year apart in age,
Speaker 1: brought to a new fancy home at such an early
Speaker 1: point in their lives. Despite being so young, they had
Speaker 1: both already endured the trauma of losing their mothers, So
Speaker 1: to end up with not only a companion, but by
Speaker 1: all accounts an incredibly loving home on the whole, must
Speaker 1: have fostered between them an environment of real closeness. Much
Speaker 1: of our knowledge of Dido's life is pieced together from
Speaker 1: accounts of others who visited Kenwood and commented on her.
Speaker 1: One such account came from Thomas Hutchinson, an American guest
Speaker 1: of the Man's Fields. Hutchinson had been Governor of Massachusetts,
Speaker 1: but his loyalist opinions on the event known as the
Speaker 1: Boston Tea Party resulted in his exile in London. His
Speaker 1: diary entry on his visit to Kenwood in seventeen seventy nine,
Speaker 1: when Dido would have been around eighteen, provides one of
Speaker 1: the fullest descriptions we have of Dido and her life
Speaker 1: at Kenwood. He begins by speaking of the Man's Fields
Speaker 1: themselves dined at lord Mansfields in kane Wood. My Lord,
Speaker 1: at seventy four or five has all the vivacity of fifty.
Speaker 1: He gave me a particular account of his releasing two
Speaker 1: Blacks from slavery since his being Chief Justice. One of
Speaker 1: the is referred to here is most likely Lord Mansfield's
Speaker 1: most famous case, seventeen seventy two's Somerset v. Stewart. To
Speaker 1: briefly summarize, an enslaved man named James Somerset was owned
Speaker 1: by Charles Stewart, an American man. Stewart brought Somerset with
Speaker 1: him while traveling to England on business, and while there
Speaker 1: Somerset escaped. He was eventually recaptured by Stewart, but three
Speaker 1: people made the claim to be Somerset's godparent and appealed
Speaker 1: the arrest as unlawful detention. Lord Mansfield's ruling found that
Speaker 1: capturing and jailing Somerset was illegal on the ground that
Speaker 1: while slavery was permitted in British colonial territories, no English
Speaker 1: laws recognized the existence of slavery, and therefore slavery was
Speaker 1: illegal in England. In reading his judgment, he not only
Speaker 1: cited the legality of the case, but the morality, declaring
Speaker 1: slavery odious. Contemporary scholars believe his decision to introduce morality
Speaker 1: into his ruling was influenced by his close relationship with
Speaker 1: Di do But back to Hutchinson. He goes on to
Speaker 1: describe Lady Mansfield's taste and class, enthusiastically commending her for
Speaker 1: her age appropriate dress as opposed to another lady he
Speaker 1: recently saw, who had the audacity to dress like a
Speaker 1: young duchess. As we will see, Hutchinson is quite obsessed
Speaker 1: with the way women dress. He then pivots to his
Speaker 1: fascination that takes up the bulk of his entry. Di
Speaker 1: do quote. A black came in after dinner and sat
Speaker 1: with the ladies, and after coffee, walked with the company
Speaker 1: in the gardens. One of the young ladies having her
Speaker 1: arm within the other. She had a very high cap,
Speaker 1: and her wool was much frizzled in her neck, but
Speaker 1: not enough to answer the large curls. Not in fashion.
Speaker 1: She is neither handsome nor genteel pert enough. I knew
Speaker 1: her history before, but my Lord mentioned it again. And
Speaker 1: this is a quote we have heard before. Quote Sir
Speaker 1: John Lindsay, having taken her mother prisoner in a Spanish vessel,
Speaker 1: brought her to England, where she was delivered of this girl,
Speaker 1: of which she was then with child, and which was
Speaker 1: taken care of by Lord m and has been educated
Speaker 1: by his family. He calls her Dido, which I suppose
Speaker 1: is all the name she has. He knows he has
Speaker 1: been reproached for showing fondness for her. I dare say
Speaker 1: not criminal end quote. There's a lot to unpack there.
Speaker 1: For one, there's the difference between the way he speaks
Speaker 1: about Lady Mansfield and didos outfits. Lady Mansfield's dress is
Speaker 1: perfectly simple, but didos curls, in his eye, were not
Speaker 1: extravagant enough. There's also the way he describes her appearance
Speaker 1: as neither handsome nor genteel, despite the fact that, as
Speaker 1: we know from her portrait, that Dido was beautiful. There's
Speaker 1: an underlying current that Hutchinson doesn't want to say up front,
Speaker 1: the sentiment that Dido is not enough, or rather not
Speaker 1: white enough. He does argue that she is quote pert enough,
Speaker 1: meaning impertinent or cheeky. This tells us that Dido was confident,
Speaker 1: unafraid to not only join in the conversation, but likely
Speaker 1: speak her mind. Despite being relegated to the post dinner coffee.
Speaker 1: Thanks to social customs, it was not proper for Dido
Speaker 1: to dine with her family when guests were present, but
Speaker 1: after dinner. Once the rules relaxed a bit, she could
Speaker 1: be reinvited into their night. This paragraph also gives us
Speaker 1: insight into her closeness with Elizabeth. Hutchinson witnessed them walking
Speaker 1: arm and arm in the gardens. We also gain more
Speaker 1: insight into Dido's relationship with Lord Mansfield. The idea that
Speaker 1: he has been quote reproached for showing fondness for her
Speaker 1: is likely connected to his abolitionist views and their influence
Speaker 1: on his rulings, as evidenced by the next part in
Speaker 1: the diary entry. Quote, a few years ago, there was
Speaker 1: a cause before his lordship brought by a black for
Speaker 1: recovery of his liberty. A Jamaica planter, being asked what
Speaker 1: judgment does his lordship, would give no doubt, he answered,
Speaker 1: he will be set free, for Lord Mansfield keeps a
Speaker 1: black in his house, which governs him and his whole
Speaker 1: family unquote. Hutchinson describes Dido's governing as such, quote, she
Speaker 1: is a sort of superintendent over the dairy poultry yard,
Speaker 1: et cetera, which we visited. And she was called upon
Speaker 1: by my Lord every minute for this thing and that,
Speaker 1: and showed the greatest attention to everything. He said end quote.
Speaker 1: Hutchinson is trying to frame Dido as sort of a servant,
Speaker 1: but historians seem to read a different interpretation that Dido
Speaker 1: and Lord Mansfield shared a close relationship and he was
Speaker 1: instead calling upon her every minute to make sure she
Speaker 1: was included as a member of the family. Hutchinson sadly
Speaker 1: represents the mindset of most Englishmen at the time, and
Speaker 1: likely the mindset of most of Kenwood's visitors upon meeting Dido.
Speaker 1: Kenwood would suffer a great loss in seventy four with
Speaker 1: the passing of Lady Mansfield. The newspapers at the time
Speaker 1: reported that Lord Mansfield was most assiduous in the sick chamber,
Speaker 1: constantly administering what the physicians had ordered and sitting up
Speaker 1: several nights together. This once again proves that the couple
Speaker 1: truly loved each other, and there's no doubt that Dido
Speaker 1: and Elizabeth also aided in taking care of their sick
Speaker 1: aunt surrogate mother. Elizabeth would face another great change the
Speaker 1: next year. It was necessary for Elizabeth, as the daughter
Speaker 1: of Lord Stormont, to make a good match, and in
Speaker 1: December seventeen eighty five, she married her cousin George Finch. Hatton,
Speaker 1: Lord mansfield nephew, who would later become an MP. Upon
Speaker 1: their marriage, the couple moved to Eastwick Park in Kent,
Speaker 1: leaving Dido without her companion at Kenwood for perhaps the
Speaker 1: first time in her life. Dido and Lord Mansfield were
Speaker 1: soon joined by two more of Mansfield's nieces, Lady Anne
Speaker 1: and Lady Marjorie Murray, both spinsters, who seemed to have
Speaker 1: come to help run the house. We know this thanks
Speaker 1: to a surviving account book from Lady Anne dated January
Speaker 1: seventeen eighty five to April seventeen ninety three, which gives
Speaker 1: us some insights into these years of Dido's life. We
Speaker 1: learned that from seventeen eighty five Dido received a quarterly
Speaker 1: allowance of five pounds, and from seventeen eighty nine this
Speaker 1: was augmented by birthday and Christmas presents of five guineas,
Speaker 1: for a total yearly allowance of thirty pounds. For comparison, however,
Speaker 1: before her marriage, we learned Elizabeth received a yearly allowance
Speaker 1: of one hundred pounds. A reminder of the gap in
Speaker 1: their status is but it's also worth noting that that
Speaker 1: money wouldn't have been given arbitrarily. We know that Elizabeth
Speaker 1: attended balls with the Princes of Wales, balls that Dido
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been allowed to attend, balls for which Elizabeth
Speaker 1: would have needed to purchase dresses, and she would have
Speaker 1: need to go to other events at which she would
Speaker 1: have needed to be seen and look marriageable. The accounting
Speaker 1: book also tells us that Dido's health was well taken
Speaker 1: care of. In seventeen eighty nine she had two teeth
Speaker 1: extracted for five shillings each, and in seventeen ninety one
Speaker 1: she was given Ass's milk, a recognized tonic at the time,
Speaker 1: to treat an illness, at the pricey cost of three
Speaker 1: pounds four shillings. Other surviving documents from this time show
Speaker 1: us that Dido impressively began to write letters for Lord Mansfield.
Speaker 1: In May seventeen eighty six, she wrote a letter to
Speaker 1: a colleague, Justice Butler about a marine insurance case they
Speaker 1: were working on. Her script is elegant and clear, and
Speaker 1: the letter ends with a message, this is wrote by Dido.
Speaker 1: I hope you will be able to read it, whether
Speaker 1: that it was an addition from Dido herself or dictated
Speaker 1: by Lord Mansfield. It appears to be playful because the
Speaker 1: letter is quite obviously legible. You can view a scanned
Speaker 1: copy online. After Elizabeth's match was made, Lord Mansfield updated
Speaker 1: his will to add an extra two hundred pounds to
Speaker 1: go to Dido, which he then updated once again, writing
Speaker 1: I think it right considering how she has been bred
Speaker 1: and how she has behaved, to make a better provision
Speaker 1: for Dido. I therefore give her three hundred pounds more.
Speaker 1: It wasn't the only will in which Dido was left
Speaker 1: as son. In sevent her father, Sir John Lindsay, died,
Speaker 1: making the following bequest. In his will, I further give
Speaker 1: and bequeath onto my dearest wife, Mary Lindsay, one thousand
Speaker 1: pounds in trust, to be disposed by her for the
Speaker 1: benefit of John and Elizabeth, my reputed son and daughter,
Speaker 1: in such a manner as she thinks proper. We know
Speaker 1: nothing of John, only that he was apparently Dido's half
Speaker 1: brother and the product of another affair in Scotland. Sir
Speaker 1: Lindsay and his wife Mary never had children together. In
Speaker 1: an obituary for Sir Lindsay, Dido was described as a
Speaker 1: quote Mulado brought up in Lord Mansfield's home almost from
Speaker 1: her infancy, and whose amiable disposition and accomplishments have earned
Speaker 1: her the highest respect from all his lordship's relations and visits.
Speaker 1: We do not know if Dido and her father ever
Speaker 1: saw each other again in her lifetime, but it's clear
Speaker 1: he continued to care for her despite their distance. She
Speaker 1: obviously was the Elizabeth he referred to as the reputed
Speaker 1: daughter in his will, and there was a generous sum
Speaker 1: attached to it. This is the first mention of Dido
Speaker 1: in a public text, and it's a positive portrait. On
Speaker 1: March twentie, seventeen ninety three, Lord Mansfield died at home
Speaker 1: in Kenwood at age eighty eight. Dido, in him lost
Speaker 1: her father, figure with whom she had shared a close relationship.
Speaker 1: But we have no record of how she felt or
Speaker 1: how she more, and all we know is that upon
Speaker 1: the death of her uncle, Dido was now a woman
Speaker 1: of means. Between the inheritance from her father and the
Speaker 1: allowance in Lord mansfield will, Dido was once again in
Speaker 1: a unique position for women in society. Only now her
Speaker 1: unique position was due to her having her own money
Speaker 1: with which she could make her own choices. Kenwood was
Speaker 1: left to the Viscount Stormont, and it is likely Dido
Speaker 1: left the estate for the first time to live elsewhere.
Speaker 1: The next we know of Dido is a name change.
Speaker 1: In seventeen ninety four, she changed her last name from
Speaker 1: Belle to Davinier, confirmed with the surviving receipt of her
Speaker 1: seventeen nine seven annuity signed Dido Elizabeth Davinier. So who
Speaker 1: is that guy? Jean Louis Charles Davinier anglicized as John Davinier,
Speaker 1: was a Frenchman who moved to England to work as
Speaker 1: a valet for the politician John Crawford. We do not
Speaker 1: know how the couple met, but it argued in Paula
Speaker 1: Burn's Bell The True Story of Dido Belle that perhaps
Speaker 1: they were introduced through Lord's Dormont, former ambassador to France,
Speaker 1: who kept a number of French servants in Kenwood. Their
Speaker 1: marriage register for St. George's Hanover Square was dated fifth
Speaker 1: December seventeen ninety three, and the couple were married there
Speaker 1: by license, a more expensive practice than getting married by bands.
Speaker 1: Upper class couples were often married by license, and this
Speaker 1: may have been seen as a bit of a flex
Speaker 1: of Dido's wealth. A year later, she would change her
Speaker 1: bank account to bear the name Dido Elizabeth da Vinier,
Speaker 1: and a year after that she gave birth to twin boys,
Speaker 1: Charles and John. It appears that John did not survive
Speaker 1: past infancy, and the couple had another son in eighteen hundred,
Speaker 1: William Thomas, sharing the first name of Dido's uncle. Tax
Speaker 1: documents revealed that the family lived in Pimlico, a middle
Speaker 1: class area with properties of the time described as a
Speaker 1: neat lease hold house very pleasantly situated, containing two rooms
Speaker 1: on each floor, with convenient offices and a large garden.
Speaker 1: It wasn't Kenwood, but it was home for Dido and
Speaker 1: the family she built. Dido died in eighteen o four,
Speaker 1: in her early forties. The cause isn't known to us,
Speaker 1: but we know she was buried at St. George's Hanover Square,
Speaker 1: where she was married years earlier. For a long time,
Speaker 1: that was the end of Dido's story. Her life and
Speaker 1: its remarkable circumstances nearly doomed to be forgotten. In the
Speaker 1: nineteen seventies and eighties, a local Camden historian by the
Speaker 1: name of Gene Adams began to comb through documents associated
Speaker 1: with Kenwood with the task of piecing together the story
Speaker 1: of the women in the portrait at Skont's Palace. Then
Speaker 1: came Ama Sante's Bell, the film in cementing Dido as
Speaker 1: a Georgian heroine alongside the likes of beloved Jane Austen characters.
Speaker 1: With the release of the film, a biography was commissioned
Speaker 1: the aforementioned Bell, The True Story of Dido Belle, which
Speaker 1: provides the most comprehensive knowledge to date for historians and artists.
Speaker 1: Dissecting the brush strokes of Dido's metaphorical portrait might be
Speaker 1: a complicated task, but it's a project that's given the
Speaker 1: girl in the painting her voice. That's the true story
Speaker 1: of Dido Elizabeth Bell. But keep listening. After a brief
Speaker 1: sponsor break to he here a little bit more about
Speaker 1: her famous portrait. The Portrait of Dido Bell and Elizabeth
Speaker 1: Murray was once attributed to German artist Johann Zofanie, but
Speaker 1: today we believe it to be the work of Scottish
Speaker 1: artist David Martin. That's not the only mystery of the painting,
Speaker 1: though it's currently dated seventeen seventy eight, but fashion historians
Speaker 1: have reason to believe that that's around a decade too late.
Speaker 1: Combining knowledge of both the trends and age appropriate styles
Speaker 1: of the decade, historians estimate our pair of cousins to
Speaker 1: actually be only around ten years old at the time
Speaker 1: of painting. An article from the Fashion Institute of Technology
Speaker 1: details their reasoning. Elizabeth appears to be wearing a bibbed apron,
Speaker 1: which were iconic signifiers of childhood in English portraiture. Her hair,
Speaker 1: rounded and styled with flowers, was the popular style from
Speaker 1: around seventeen sixty three to sixty eight. Remember Hutchinson's comment
Speaker 1: about Dido's curls not being big enough. His visit was
Speaker 1: in seventeen seventy nine, only a year after the portrait
Speaker 1: was actually dated. Yet neither of the girl's sport the
Speaker 1: piles of curls that would have been in fashion by then. Dido,
Speaker 1: for her fashion's role in the portrait is in an
Speaker 1: orientalist style costume that we see in portraits from the
Speaker 1: seventeen twenties through the seventeen eighties, which could place the
Speaker 1: painting in either timeline. Dido's outfit certainly serves to exoticize
Speaker 1: her in the portrait, but it actually wasn't an uncommon look.
Speaker 1: David Martin in particular, painted many society women in similar
Speaker 1: wrapping gowns and turbans, even down to the posed finger
Speaker 1: resting on the cheek. With that analysis, they believe the
Speaker 1: painting is more accurately dated in the seventieen sixties, which
Speaker 1: might also explain the seemingly childish delight in Dido's pose.
Speaker 1: Noble Blood is a production of I Heart Radio and
Speaker 1: Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted
Speaker 1: by Me Danish Sports. Additional writing and researching done by
Speaker 1: Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sunder and Laurie Goodman.
Speaker 1: The show is produced by rema Il Kali, with supervising
Speaker 1: producer Josh Thane and executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams,
Speaker 1: and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.