Barbados Targets Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict CumberbatchHis family could be forced to pay reparations to Barbados for operating slave plantations on the island of Barbados in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The actor’s seventh great-grandfather, who played the role of a plantation owner in the Oscar-winning film 12 Years a Slave, purchased Cleland Plantation in St. Andrew, Barbados in 1728.
After that, 250 slaves lived on the plantation until slavery was abolished over 100 years later.
When the plantation was forced to close, the Cumberbatch family were handed £6,000 as compensation for the loss of “personal property”.
Benedict Cumberbatch played planter William Ford in the 2012 film 12 Years A Slave.Actor’s family who had their own farm in Barbados could be forced to repay reparations
Benedict Cumberbatch’s 7th great-grandfather purchased Cleland Farm in St Andrew in 1728. The plantation then became home to 250 of his slaves until slavery was abolished over 100 years later.
The British government at the time was taking out loans to pay off slaveholders across the empire, but they were only paid back in 2015.
The government of Barbados is currently in the midst of a fight to pay back reparations for the ancestors of slave-owning families.
Conservative MP Richard Drax inherited his family’s ancestral sugar plantation, which played a key role in the development of the sugar trade between the Caribbean and the United States.
The 250-hectare (617-acre) Drax Hall Plantation is now located in a prime location on Holiday Island.
The Oscar-nominated actor first spoke about his family ancestry in 2006 when he appeared in the retired film Amazing Grace.
Owned by Cumberbatch’s seventh great-grandfather, Cleland Plantation was home to 250 slaves.
When the plantation (pictured) was forced to close, the Cumberbatch family were handed £6,000 in compensation for the loss of ‘personal property’.
Drax is under pressure to return the land to the country, and if he refuses, the Barbados government will seek compensation from the International Court of Arbitration.
If the legal ruling favors the island, Mr. Drax will be the first person to be successfully traced as a descendant of a slave-owning family, opening the door for the plantation owner’s ancestors to pay.
The general secretary of the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration said: Telegraph: “The descendants of white plantation owners who benefited from the slave trade, including the Cumberbatch family, should be required to pay reparations.”
Conservative MP Richard Drax (pictured) inherited his family’s ancestral sugar plantation, which played a key role in the development of the sugar trade between the Caribbean and the United States.
Drax should contribute “hundreds of millions of dollars” toward building schools, roads, health centers and other community projects, according to self-proclaimed Barbados “revolutionary” David Denny
Denny had campaigned for Drax to donate “hundreds of millions of dollars” to community projects such as building schools, roads and health centers in Barbados.
The Caribbean Community Ambassador to Barbados, David Comicion, is also advocating for reparations to be paid to Drax and other slave-owning families.
he said Telegraph: “Much of this history is only now revealed.”
Drax visited the Caribbean island in October to meet with the island’s prime minister, Mia Mottley, to discuss the future of the former plantation.
The Caribbean Community Ambassador to Barbados, David Comicion (pictured), also insists that reparations be paid to Drax and other slave-owning families.
Benedict Cumberbatch played William Pitt the Younger in 2006’s Amazing Grace — a role he took as a ‘sort of apology’ for his family’s role in the slave trade
It’s unclear if the money from Cumberbatch’s ancestors helped the Harrow School-educated actor.
In 2015, Cumberbatch asked his mother, actress Wanda Bentham, not to use his real name professionally in case she became the target of a new Caribbean campaign seeking compensation for the descendants of slaves. I made it clear that I strongly recommended him.
In 12 Years a Slave, Cumberbatch plays farm owner William Ford.
The Oscar-nominated actor first spoke about his family ancestry in 2006 when he appeared in the retired film Amazing Grace.
At the time, he half-jokingly took on the role of William Pitt the Younger “as a sort of apology” to his ancestors.
MailOnline reached out to Cumberbatch’s rep for comment.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11587121/Barbados-targets-Benedict-Cumberbatch-campaigners-demand-reparations-slave-owning-ancestors.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490 Barbados Targets Benedict Cumberbatch
