William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield,, was a British barrister, politician and judge best known for his reforms to English law. Born in Scone Palace, Perthshire into the Scottish nobility, he was edu
Portrait of William Murray by Jean-Baptiste van Loo, 1737
Dido Elizabeth Belle and Lady Elizabeth Murray by David Martin, 1778. Dido Belle (left) and Lady Elizabeth Murray (right)
Lady Elizabeth Finch (Later Countess of Mansfield) (left) and her sister Lady Henrietta, Duchess of Cleveland (right).
Murray circa 1737; portrait by John Giles Eccardt assistant of Jean-Baptiste van Loo.
Dido Elizabeth Belle
Videos
Dido Elizabeth Belle was a British gentlewoman. She was born into slavery as the illegitimate daughter of a Royal Navy officer. Her father was Sir John Lindsay, a British career naval officer who was
William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield
…he brought his illegitimate daughter, Dido, whose mother, Maria Bell, was an enslaved woman of African descent. Dido was born into slavery in 1761. Dido Elizabeth Belle was baptised November 1766 in London, eight months after Lady Elizabeth's arrival. It has been hypothesised that Mansfield took Dido in to provide…
Belle's father Sir John Lindsay
Kenwood House, where Dido Elizabeth Belle spent most of her life before marriage
Portrait of Lord Mansfield by John Singleton Copley, 1783. William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, Dido Elizabeth Belle's great uncle and de facto guardian