Dido Elizabeth Belle

Dido Elizabeth Belle was born into slavery as the natural daughter of Maria Belle, an enslaved African woman in the West Indies, and Sir John Lindsay, a British career naval officer who was stationed there. He was later knighted and promoted to admiral. Lindsay took Belle with him when he returned to England in 1765, entrusting her raising to his uncle William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, and his wife Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Mansfield. The Murrays educated Belle, bringing her up as a free gentlewoman at their Kenwood House, together with their niece, Lady Elizabeth Murray, whose mother had died. Belle lived there foryears. In his will of 1793, Lord Mansfield confirmed her freedom and provided an outright sum and an annuity to her, making her an heiress.

Dido Elizabeth Belle was born into slavery in 1761 in the West Indies to an enslaved African woman known as Maria Belle. Her father was Sir John Lindsay, a member of the Lindsay family of Evelix branch of the Clan Lindsay and a descendant of the Clan Murray, who was a career naval officer and then captain of the British warship HMS Trent, based in the West Indies. He was the son of Sir Alexander Lindsay, 3rd Baronet. Lindsay is thought to have found Maria Belle held as a slave on a Spanish ship which his forces captured in the Caribbean he appears to have taken her as his concubine . Lindsay returned to England after the war in 1765, likely bringing at that time his young, multiracial biological daughter to London. He entrusted her to the care of his uncle, William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, and his wife Elizabeth Murray, Countess of Mansfield. She was baptized as Dido Elizabeth Belle in 1766 at St. Georges, Bloomsbury.

Source: Wikipedia