Beautiful Virgin Islands

Saturday, Sep 06, 2025

Paintings reveal hidden histories of Africans in England

Paintings reveal hidden histories of Africans in England

English Heritage’s six portraits range from a Roman emperor to Queen Victoria’s goddaughter

Six paintings that tell fascinating, not widely known stories of people from the African diaspora in England’s history, including the Roman emperor who strengthened Hadrian’s Wall and Queen Victoria’s goddaughter, have been unveiled by English Heritage.

The heritage body commissioned six artists to paint portraits, putting them on display at forts, abbeys, historic houses and barracks where they have an association.

The project was about bringing their stories to life for a wider audience, said Anna Eavis, English Heritage’s curatorial director. “African figures from the past have played significant roles at some of the historic sites in our care but many of their stories are not very well known.”

The subjects include Septimius Severus, who was born in Leptis Magna, the present day city of Al-Khums in Libya. He travelled to Britain in AD208 and ordered the strengthening of Hadrian’s Wall and the reoccupation of the Antonine Wall, across what is now central Scotland, with a view to expanding his empire.

He has been painted by Elena Onwochei-Garcia who said she was drawn to Septimius because of her own multiheritage background, in her case Nigerian, Spanish and German. “This made me reflect on how people might imagine someone like us to look like,” she said.

“I wanted to go beyond painting Rome’s ‘African emperor’, to portray a complex individual by paying attention to his personality and how he chose to be seen in his coins, statues and architecture.

“Historically, black people have had little control over their portrayal. Septimius Severus embodied and altered the image of the Roman empire.”

The portrait goes on display from Wednesday at Corbridge Roman Town on Hadrian’s Wall.

Mikéla Henry-Lowe with her portrait of Dido Belle.


Another subject is Dido Belle, born in 1761, the daughter of an enslaved black woman and a British naval officer. She was raised as part of the aristocratic Murray family in Georgian London and spent much of her life at Kenwood House on the edge of Hampstead Heath.

Belle has been painted by Mikéla Henry-Lowe. She welcomed “the opportunity to paint a black woman who experienced growing up in an aristocratic family, because most depictions of black women in Georgian Britain were shown as slaves.”

Clifton Powell has painted Abbot Hadrian, an African scholar in Anglo-Saxon England and the abbot of St Augustine’s Abbey, Kent. Hadrian was from Cyrenaica, a Roman/Byzantine province in north Africa.

Powell said he had felt his subject’s presence since he started the portrait and played monastic Gregorian chants while he painted.

Hannah Uzor has painted the portrait of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, the daughter of a west African ruler who was enslaved by King Gezo of Dahomey, present-day Benin. In 1850, Bonetta was presented as a “diplomatic gift” to a British naval captain, Frederick Forbes, and taken to England.

Bonetta was introduced to Queen Victoria who was evidently charmed by her, describing her as “sharp and intelligent”. Victoria became her godmother and paid for her education in Sierra Leone and Gillingham, Kent.

Chloe Cox has painted Arthur Roberts, the son of a Trinidadian man, who was born in 1897 in Bristol and grew up in Glasgow. He served in the first world war and survived the battle of Passchendaele. The painting is on display at Berwick-upon-Tweed barracks in Northumberland.

The sixth painting is of James Chappell (1648-1730), a servant at Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire, who saved the life of the hall’s owner. He has been painted by Glory Samjolly.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
US Justice Department Launches Criminal Mortgage-Fraud Probe into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook
Escalating Drug Trafficking and Violence in Latin America: A Growing Crisis
US and Taiwanese Defence Officials Held Secret Talks in Alaska
Report: Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission in North Korea Ordered by Trump in 2019 Ended in Failure
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Florida Murder Case: The Adelson Family, the Killing of Dan Markel, and the Trial of Donna Adelson
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Brand-New $1 Million Yacht Sinks Just Fifteen Minutes After Maiden Launch in Turkey
Here’s What the FBI Seized in John Bolton Raid — and the Legal Risks He Faces
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Queen Camilla’s Teenage Courage: Fended Off Attempted Assault on London Train, New Biography Reveals
Scottish Brothers Set Record in Historic Pacific Row
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Nvidia Reveals: Two Mystery Customers Account for About 40% of Revenue
Woody Allen: "I Would Be Happy to Direct Trump Again in a Film"
×