Drax married his second wife; Eliza, daughter of Commander James Dugdale RN (related to David Cameron). . Mr Drax has no plans to return any time soon.. Last week, leading figures in the Caribbean Communitys (Caricom) Reparations Commission described the Drax Hall plantation as a killing field and a crime scene from the tens of thousands of African slaves who died there in terrible conditions between 1640 and 1836. His brother William took their methods to Jamaica where the former plantation area is also still known as Drax Hall. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. Tricky emoji quiz will put your knowledge of childhood classics to the test. He was privately educated at Harrow School . They are demanding that South Dorset MP Richard Drax, who now owns the estate, must pay a vast sum to compensate for the historic sins of his forebears. There is precedence for compensating descendants of slaves. Medic who doctored his pay and swindled 68,000 from the NHS Nurses are prepared to walk out of A&E and not provide Grinning and bearing it? Truss on 149, Sunak on 132. But for all his wealth and power, there is a dark shadow hanging over Richard Drax his familys historical links with slavery in the plantations of the West Indies, which are now prompting mounting calls from former Caribbean colonies for reparations. We've been true to that purpose since brothers Henry and Richard Bloch founded our company in 1955. He also admitted that he had never given Mr Drax a second thought until he was contacted by Dorset-based members of Stand Up to Racism. But then, as I have learnt while investigating this story very much of-the-moment, in a week when the British royals are mired in another race furore it is a saga rife with dubious reasoning and double standards. "[19][20], In June 2020, Drax wrote an article in the Dorset Echo suggesting that rioters linked to the Black Lives Matter protests had been responsible for desecrating The Cenotaph war memorial in London. Catherine Bennett was right to question the special Eton magic (Just what is the special Eton magic that allows it to turn out epic oafs year after year?, Comment). Its conical tower once held a huge bell that tolled at dawn each morning, summoning the slaves to their 12 hours of back-breaking toil. He'd neglected to mention it on the House of Commons Register of Members' Interests until 29 December 2020, despite the estate being in his family for more than 400 years. Produce from Draxs firms all with offices on his Charborough estate in Dorset includes barley for brewers and opium poppies for NHS morphine. That this nation exploited more slaves than any other is an often-rehearsed fact. Male birth control gel you rub on your SHOULDERS could be available within a decade as scientists claim What lack of sleep REALLY does to your face: Expert reveals the warning signs your skin is suffering. We are a people company first and a tax company second. T71/898 Barbados claim no. An updated register was published over Christmas, revealing an apparent scramble to declare father-of-four Mr Draxs previously unregistered business interests. On Friday, the MP said he does not yet legally own the Barbados holdings as these are still going through the probate process and have not yet transferred to my name. [citation needed], His first wife (divorced 1997) was Zara Legge-Bourke, younger sister of the royal nanny Tiggy Legge-Bourke, relations of the Earl of Dartmouth. David Comissiong, Barbadoss ambassador to Caricom, says of the Drax family: You cant simply walk away from the scene of the crime. Annihilation. Since then, we've grown to have approximately 12,000 offices throughout the United States and . The Estate has been in existence since 1086 and is mentioned in the Domesday Book and . [23] After Braverman was eliminated, he supported Liz Truss. Yet are we to suppose that China, with its ruthless suppression of the Uighurs and Covid lockdown protesters, is morally superior to the unenlightened slavers of Stuart and Georgian England? Richard Drax cannot be responsible for what his ancestors did 400 years ago. 5 Oct. 1762, 1st s. of . During the election campaign there was some controversy when the Daily Mirror wrote that Drax's ancestors had earned their fortune on slavery. [31], Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, Last edited on 12 February 2023, at 22:40, July 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election, "He's the MP with the Downton Abbey lifestyle. David Comissiong, the Barbados ambassador to Caricom, said on Friday: There have been centuries of looting and siphoning off the wealth which should have remained in Barbados. Its always intrigued me that Drax Plantation is still functioning. Richard Anobile, a prolific creator of film books whose friendly collaboration with the anarchic comedian Groucho Marx on a project called "The . Paul Lashmar and Jonathan Smith write, Hes the MP with the Downton Abbey lifestyle. Long-term partner and later wife of Thomas Legal Yates. But the shadow of slavery hangs over the gilded life of Richard Drax, adding that The hardline Tory Brexiters family made a fortune from their Caribbean plantations where thousands died. Now, Drax faces urgent calls for reparations. As it has changed little since the mid-1600s, one could imagine the appalling misery of the men, women and children who once worked here. The irony appears to be lost on everyone including VisitScotland, which has now partnered with it in that the only benefit that Tripadvisor claims it gives to the customer for its booking service is that their money is safer with it than with the, presumably wholly untrustworthy, primary provider that it feeds off.Allan DoyleGreenhead, Dumfries. ). The plantation was added to the register only after we told the MP we were running a story. [22], Drax endorsed Suella Braverman during the July 2022 Conservative Party leadership election. We will update Richard Drax's Height, weight, Body Measurements, Eye Color, Hair Color, Shoe & Dress size soon as possible. Richard Drax MP was one of the first MPs to call for the criminalisation of trespass. Later, the Draxes married into the Erle family that owned Charborough Park and the sugar profits helped to greatly extend the . Richard was delighted to re-elected the MP for South Dorset in December 2019. The Drax Hall plantation is not referred to in Richard Draxs Register of Members Interests declaration, and we could not find any family document referring directly to the plantations in the public domain since his great-grandmothers will in 1916, when the Baroness Dunsany bequeathed her estates and plantations in Barbados to her son, Richards grandfather. See for the whole family, Burke, vol. Even before Stand Up To Racism trained their sights on Mr Drax, a pan-West Indian movement had been agitating for Britain and other European nations to pay vast settlements. 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By 1680, he had 327 black chattels and just seven whites. One of only three Jacobean mansions in the Americas, the official Barbados tourism website lists it as one of the islands seven wonders. [13], In 2009, Drax faced criticism from political rivals for 'hiding his aristocratic roots' by not using his full quadruple-barrelled name. It has a Reparations Commission, whose chair is Sir Hilary Beckles. He relinquished his British Army commission on 9 September 1987, thereby retiring after nine years' service as a Coldstreamer. Mr Drax, a rich, high-profile British MP, had been picked on precisely because was an easy target. Ukrainian soldier takes out five Russian tanks and three armoured vehicles in ONE DAY using US-supplied Ukraine's first lady condemns Putin for 'mercilessly firing at civilians' as 'deliberate missile strike' on 'Big Brother' AI robot is unveiled as government adviser that will monitor the public's opinions in Romania, Wife is shocked after husband of 15 years asks for permission to have an affair: 'I don't know what to do', My Daily Horoscope: What does March 2nd hold for MY star sign? Black life mattered only to make millionaires of English enslavers and the Drax family did it longer than any other elite family.. Once we have made him pay, we are coming after the Royal Family.. Selected as a Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate in July 2006, at the general election in May 2010 Drax defeated the incumbent Labour Member of Parliament for South Dorset, Jim Knight, later Baron Knight of Weymouth. Black African people did that, but Ive never heard anyone say they should be held responsible. One document reveals his involvement in the farm, showing that in February he registered the plantation as a business in the Barbados Companies House in his full name, Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax. Biography. Sir Hilary Beckles, a prominent Barbadian historian of slavery, said Drax must acknowledge the wealth brought to the family by slavery. .]. His wife is Elsebet Drax (m. 1998), Zara Drax (m. 19851997). Sir Hilary Beckles, chairman of the 20-state Caribbean Communitys (Caricom) Reparations Commission and vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies, estimates that as many 30,000 slaves died on the Drax plantations in Barbados andJamaicaover 200 years. The newsletter is emailed out first thing every morning, at 12noon and every evening. 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