Historical Reenactment | The Story of Dido Belle by English Heritage

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English Heritage cares for over 400 historic buildings, monuments and sites all while running an amazingly entertaining and educational Youtube channel. The channel has a series titled, 'What Was Life Like?'. Previous episodes have discussed people that lived during Medieval and Tudor historical eras. Episode 9 of the series focuses on Dido Elizabeth Belle.

The only known portrait of Dido Belle, showing her with her cousin and close companion, Lady Elizabeth Murray, at Kenwood
© By kind permission of the Earl of Mansfield, Scone Palace, Perth, Scotland


 Thanks to the incredible 2013 film Belle, most period film fans have a general idea of what life was like for Dido Elizabeth Belle. This entertaining short video shows a historical reenactor portraying Dido Elizabeth Belle's typical day at Kenwood.



According to Kenwood
It was not unheard of for a powerful aristocrat to be the legal guardian to such a relation. But it was extremely unusual at this time for a mixed-race woman – who had perhaps been born to an enslaved mother – to be raised as part of an aristocratic British family. 
Dido’s exact position within Lord Mansfield’s household is unclear, but the evidence suggests that she was brought up as a lady rather than as a servant. We know that she was taught to read, write, play music and practise other social skills. She also received an annual allowance. In her father’s obituary, the London Chronicle noted that ‘[her] amiable disposition and accomplishments have gained her the highest respect from all his Lordship’s relations and visitants’. 
Dido also supervised Kenwood’s dairy and poultry yard, a common hobby for genteel women at the time.


An engraving of Kenwood in 1788, showing the house as it would have looked while Dido was living there


Resources/ Additional Reading 


Get a copy of Belle starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Dido Elizabeth Belle HERE!

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