Dido Elizabeth Belle (1761-1804) has been a subject of interest for many since her identification in a painting and the subject of a film, Belle in 2013.

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She was born into slavery as the natural daughter of Maria Belle, an enslaved African woman in the West Indies. Her father was Sir John Lindsay, a British naval officer, who was stationed there. Due to her parentage, Dido was described as "mulatto" in a contemporary obituary of Sir John Lindsay, who became an Admiral in 1783.

Lindsay took his daughter back to England with him in 1765, and she was baptised in 1766 as Dido Elizabeth Belle at St George's in Bloomsbury. Lindsay entrusted Dido to his uncle William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, and his wife Elizabeth, who educated Belle and brought her up as a gentlewoman at Kenwood House in London.

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As Dido grew older, she would often assist Mansfield by taking dictation of his letters, which shows she was esteemed by her great-uncle. She grew up together with her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray, daughter of the Murray's nephew Lord Stormont, who was also left in her great-aunt and uncle's care. It may be that Dido had been intended to be Elizabeth's attendant but she was more of a playmate and a Lady's companion to her.

Completed in 1779, the family commissioned a portrait, by Johann Zoffany, of Dido and Elizabeth. It is quite a unique painting of the 18th Century as it depicts a black woman and a white woman side by side, almost as equals, although Dido is slightly behind her cousin. It is unknown why Dido is pointing at her cheek in the painting. Some think it is to highlight her skin colour.

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There are conflicting reports as to whether Dido was allowed to dine with the family, especially when there were guests. She was too well-born to belong to the serving class, but too different to be wholly welcome in high society. This was not just or even mainly due to the colour of her skin, but also because she was an illegitimate daughter.

As she grew older, she took on the responsibility of managing the dairy and poultry yards at Kenwood House. This was a usual task for ladies of the gentry. Although she was given an annual allowance of £30 10s, several times more than the wages of a typical domestic worker. Her cousin Lady Elizabeth received an allowance of around £100 by contrast. Kenwood House's account show Dido was on an almost equal footing with Elizabeth otherwise, having a four-poster bed draped in chintz and mahogany furniture in her rooms. She also received costly remedies when she was ill.
 

Dido's father, Sir John Lindsay, died in 1788 without any legitimate heirs. He was known to have fathered three illegitimate children in his lifetime (two girls and one boy), by three different woman. In his will he bequeathed £1000 to be shared to his "reputed children".

Dido also inherited from Lady Margery Murray £100 in 1793. Lady Murray was one of two female relatives who had come to live with and care for the Murray's in their later years. In Lord Mansfield's will in the same year, he bequeathed to Dido £500 as an outright sum and a £100 annuity. Also in his will he wrote "I assert to Dido her freedom".

 

In her great-uncle's lifetime, as Lord Chief Justice, he ruled in two significant slavery cases. In 1772, he ruled that slavery had no precedent in common law in England, and had never been authorised under positive law. This ruling was taken as the formal end of slavery in Britain, and it is estimated that between 14-15,000 slaves were immediately freed after this ruling.

In a case related to the slave trade, he narrowly ruled that the owners of the Zong slave ship were not due insurance payments for the loss of their slaves as they had drowned 142 African slaves two years before. This was an early link to a chain of events that led to the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in 1807.

After her great-uncle's death, Dido married John Davinier, a Frenchman who worked as a gentleman's steward, at St George's, Hanover Square, on 5th December 1793. Both were residents of the parish at that time. The couple had at least three sons, twins Charles and John (1795) and William Thomas (1802).

Dido died in 1804 at the age of 43, and was buried in July of that year at St George's Fields, Westminster. She was survived by her husband John, who later remarried and had a further two children with his second wife.

So how does Dido's story link with Jane Austen?

Jane is well known for writing about what she knew, hence why her life and events are so fascinating to us. It is known that she had met Dido's cousin Lady Elizabeth many times between 1805 and 1813 whilst visiting her elder brother Edward in Kent as she refers to her in her letters. However, it is unclear if Lady Elizabeth would have revealed the story of her cousin to Jane, the two meeting after Dido's death.

Jane almost certainly would have known of Lord Mansfield's significant ruling against slavery in 1772, and there are certainly links within Mansfield Park, including it's title! It is noted that the surname chosen for Fanny Price's aunt Norris, may allude to Robert Norris, an infamous slave trader and a byword for pro-slavery sympathies.

Similarities have also been drawn between Fanny Price and Dido. Although Fanny is not black and not illegitimate, she does come from a very different background to her cousins and is treated differently because of it, being neither a servant nor born into high society. She also asks her uncle about the slave trade at the dinner table during a silent moment.