Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66666364
Barbados was the easternmost colony within the eastern Carbbean of British colonies in the region. As such, it was also the logical point for ships to put into port when they arrived from England. A sail in those days usually took upwards of 6 weeks in good weather from Portsmouth. But Barbados was also ideal as a terrain for cultivating sugar - the island is very flat for the most part. So was born the "sugar triangle". For me personally, it is complicated - because the way I connect the dots of my own past paternal ancestors - also from Yorkishire like these Lascelles, involves acknowledging being part of the wider dynamic of colonialism in the late 18the century. Of course, in the wider picture of the times right into the 19th century, people were migrating from all parts of the UK into other parts of the wider colonial Empire, and for a multiple range of individual reasons. But I suppose what fascinates me again are the circumstances of life in the North of England - perhaps harsher than some other regions - that propelled people to seek a new existence across the ocean. The case of the Harewood family is of course distinct insofar as it is both connected by distant family ties to the royal family, and the degree of wealth they derived from their exploits in the sugar trade was spectacular. But, their story does reflect also how colonialism of the period took advantage of human circumstances at all levels to create a huge human machinery. Probably Karen will remember me speaking of this colonial migration from Yorkshire last year. Now I had the chance this summer to view in person the spot where many if not all migrants first set foot...including my own (who however sailed further west to another island). This recent article reminded me of the Lascelles also - and how later generations deal with past choices.
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