Drax Hall Estate Explained

Drax Hall Estate is a sugarcane plantation situated in Saint George, Barbados, in the Caribbean.

Drax Hall still stands on the site where sugarcane was first cultivated on Barbados and is one of the island's three remaining Jacobean houses.

History

The estate has belonged to the Drax family since the early 1650s when it was built by James Drax and his brother, William Drax, early settlers in Jamaica. The Drax's Caribbean slave plantations and estates then descended with that of Charborough House in Dorset.^{[1] [2]}

By 1680, Henry Drax was the owner of the largest plantations on Barbados, then in the parish of St. John.^[3] A planter-merchant, Drax had a hired 'proper persons' to act in, and do all business in Bridgetown.'^[4]

Legacy

Historian Hilary Beckles estimated that close to 30,000 enslaved African men, women and children died on the Drax Caribbean plantations over 200 years.^[5] By 1832 there were 275 people enslaved on the plantation producing 300 tons of sugar and 140 puncheons of rum.^[6]

Ownership

The estate continues as a sugar plantation but Drax Hall is closed to the public, although its grounds spanning much of the eastern landscape of the parish of Saint George are open to visitors. The current owner is Richard Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, a British former member of parliament, who inherited the property after the death of his father, Henry Walter Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (1928–2017), a former High Sheriff of Dorset. The Drax family also owned slave plantations in Jamaica, which they sold in the mid-1700s.^[7]

In April 2024 the Barbadian government planned to buy the estate for £3 million for housing, however this plan was later cancelled.^{[8] [9]}

See also

• Admiral the Hon. Sir Reginald Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax
• List of plantations in Barbados

Further reading

• News: Higgins . Isabella . Henry . Matt . The tiny Caribbean nation leading the fight for slavery reparations . 17 September 2023 . . 14 September 2023 . en-AU.

Notes and References

1. Book: The Sugar Barons: Family, Corruption, Empire, and War in the West Indies. Matthew Parker. 7 The Plantation Life and Death.
2. Book: Jamaica Surveyed: Plantation Maps and Plans of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. B. W. Higman. 2001 . 99. University of the West Indies Press . 978-9766401139.
3. Welch, P. L. V. (2003). Slave Society in the City: Bridgetown, Barbados, 1680-1834. Ian Randle Publishers.
4. Galenson, D. W. (2002). Traders, Planters and Slaves: Market Behavior in Early English America. Cambridge University Press.
5. Web site: Lashmar. Paul. Smith. Jonathan. 2020-12-12. He's the MP with the Downton Abbey lifestyle. But the shadow of slavery hangs over the gilded life of Richard Drax. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20201212210357/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/12/hes-the-mp-with-the-downton-abbey-lifestyle-but-the-shadow-of-slavery-hangs-over-the-gilded-life-of-richard-drax . 2020-12-12 . 2020-12-13. the Guardian. en.
6. Web site: Drax Hall Estate . Legacies of British Slave-ownership . University College London . 13 December 2020.
7. Web site: Lashmar. Paul. Smith. Jonathan. 2020-12-12. Wealthy MP urged to pay up for his family's slave trade past. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20201212210305/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/12/wealthy-mp-urged-to-pay-up-for-his-familys-slave-trade-past . 2020-12-12 . 2020-12-13. the Guardian. en.
8. News: Tory MP from slave-owning family set to gain £3m from sale of former plantation . The Observer . 20 April 2024 . Smith . Jonathan . Lashmar . Paul .
9. News: Barbados leader halts £3m payout to UK MP for Drax Hall plantation . The Guardian . 24 April 2024 . Lashmar . Paul . Smith . Jonathan .