Some new arrivals chose to hang themselves rather than face a lifetime of servitude, believing they would be resurrected and transported back to their homelands. However, a well-placed source tells me he might have been amenable to such a solution, had he not been ambushed at a meeting in early October with the Barbadian prime minister Mia Mottley. Richard Drax - or to give him his full name, Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax - is the MP for South Dorset, owner of the Charborough Estate, and by my reckoning, the largest individual landowner in Dorset. . and on. Clearly there are some glaring contradictions to all this. His father died in 2017.. Richard Draxs 17th-century ancestors James and William sailed toBarbadosin the late 1620s, where they cleared lush land in the centre of the island and experimented with growing and processing sugar. Drax is only the first target, he told me, evidently fired up for this great new crusade. He retained the rank of lieutenant with seniority from 10 September 1981 to reflect the three years he had served. A database created by University College London showed that Richard Draxs ancestor John Sawbridge Erle-Drax MP, who also lived at Charborough Park, received 4,293 12s 6d a very large sum in 1836 in compensation for freeing 189 slaves. The mausoleum was demolished in 1935 and replaced by a flat memorial stone. Drax lives in his family's ancestral seat, Charborough House a Grade I listed manor house in rural Dorset. Richard was delighted to re-elected the MP for South Dorset in December 2019. He is a member of famous Politician with the age 64 years old group. When he first stood for parliament in 2010, he was asked by the Daily Mirror about his historical responsibility. The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. There has been speculation about whether the Drax family still owned the Barbados estate as absentee landlords, especially after Richards father Henry Drax died in 2017. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. 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 Lord Knight of Weymouth. Mr Drax who has described his ancestors slavery role as deeply, deeply regrettable said: I have updated my entries to include the property in Barbados, although that disclosure is not necessary until it has been legally transferred to me. Drax is the eldest son of Henry Walter Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (19282017)JP DL and The Hon. The MPs spokesman said: Richard was made aware on February 5 of omissions in the Companies House filings in relation to unlimited Abbots Court Farm and Anderson Manor Farm. About Richard. Richard Grosvenor Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax (born 29 January 1958) is a British Conservative politician, journalist and landowner, serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Dorset since 2010. The MP for South Dorset, Richard Drax, has inherited the 250-hectare Drax Hall plantation in Barbados from his father, inquiries by the Observer have established. He also owns a 4.5m holiday villa on nearby Sandbanks, which is rented out at up to 6,734 a week in peak season. Drax since married his third wife, Norwegian-born Elsebet Bdtker, and has four children in total. A captain in the East Kent Militia; raised a troop of the Dorsetshire Yeomanry in 1830 to deal with the Swing Riots; patron of five church livings; appointed sheriff of Dorset, January 1840; a deputy-lieutenant of Dorset in the late 1850s. In Barbados, the imposing plantation house, Drax Hall, built around 1650, still stands the oldest house in the western hemisphere and sugar is still grown on the plantation. But Mr Drax admits they were active holding companies for his unlimited companies. The accounts reveal in 2014 it had assets of more than 3.1m, and 3.4m in 2019. The Estate has been in existence since 1086 and is mentioned in the Domesday Book and . Drax has not yet declared the land or its properties in the parliamentary register of members interests. But who rounded up these slaves and brought them to the African ports where they were purchased? Sugar and Black Death went hand in glove. We've been true to that purpose since brothers Henry and Richard Bloch founded our company in 1955. If he espouses the same cause that so many Tories champion, that it does people good to learn to stand on their own two feet, he would surely welcome the introduction of wealth and land taxes.Brian WoollandSalisbury, Wiltshire, Richard Drax cannot be responsible for what his ancestors did 400 years ago. Richard Draxs income source is mostly from being a successful Politician. The Dutch also gave him the idea to replace the indentured English and Irish servants who worked his land with imported Africans, whom he deemed able to do the work of three white men. Companies House said failure to keep records updated could result in action. He said it was a technical infringement, now corrected. The fact that he was able to summon a *police helicopter* when peaceful trespassers entered his 13,000-acre estate yday shows you how landowners would use this new law . The Drax family did it longer than any elite family.. EXCLUSIVE: Revealed: Prison reform boss who drunkenly beat her husband every day after downing white wine Are you allowing your bank to rip you off? The plantation relied on slaves for almost 200 years and the MP said his ancestors involvement was regrettable. Ex-Lib Dem leader Vince Cable said: I hope the recently further-enriched Mr Drax pays some attention to polite representations from the Caribbean Community Reparations Commission. 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. During the election campaign there was some controversy when the Daily Mirror wrote that Drax's ancestors had earned their fortune on slavery. A Tory MP has finally admitted to Parliament he owns a former slave plantation where his family made millions. Inside Frogmore Cottage: Plush home Harry and Meghan have been 'evicted' from by King Charles boasts a roomy Charles evicting Harry and Meghan is the act of a King putting his country first: REBECCA ENGLISH reveals A royal princess at Eton? Contact Richard Drax This section contains web, social and other contact information for Richard Drax. Thus the descendants of a much wronged people can benefit from a new hospital, a well-equipped school or some well-planned housing. (LogOut/ 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. Mr Drax, a rich, high-profile British MP, had been picked on precisely because was an easy target. Published: 00:53 GMT, 3 December 2022 | Updated: 02:01 GMT, 3 December 2022. he is one of famous Politician with the age 63 years old group. On top of all that, he was named and shamed by HM Revenue and Customs, last year, among 139 employers who paid staff below the minimum wage. In Bridgetowns newly republican corridors of power, there is, of course, a wholly different viewpoint. As a reminder of the links between Dorset and Barbados a road that bisects the Charborough estate is called Sugar Hill. Richard, who inherited the estate in 2017 on the death of his father, Walter, is the seventh family member to sit in the Commons. Drax's response questioned his responsibility for "something that happened 300 or 400 years ago", stating "it's not what I stand for", and cited the desperation of his opponents- "all they can do is pick at bits of my family history". He is from . For if blameless distant relatives are held responsible for the slave trade or indeed any other long-ago transgression where might all this stop? But he is responsible for what he does now. [14], Drax campaigned for Brexit during the 2016 referendum. His great-uncle was the celebrated writer and playwright the 18th Lord Dunsany, and his maternal grandfather was General the Lord Weeks. Barbados is wholly justified in asking for the . 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. Sir Hilary Beckles, chair of the Caribbean Community Reparations Commission and vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies, said: People of Barbados and Jamaica are entitled to reparatory justice. So, it seems, this highly charged stand-off is set to drag on. Later, the Draxes married into the Erle family that owned Charborough Park and the sugar profits helped to greatly extend the mansion and lands back in England. [Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] Drax passed out from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned in the British Army joining the Coldstream Guards on 9 December 1978 as a second lieutenant; he was given the Personal Number 506831. It sounds a comparatively modest sum, but by then their 200 years of profits had been invested in. In 1827 he married Jane, the daughter of Richard Erle-Drax Grosvenor and a member of the Drax family which was so prominent among the slave-owners of Barbados. On the marriage, Sawbridge assumed the name of Erle-Drax. [4] Drax was promoted lieutenant on 9 December 1980,[5] before being transferred to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers after active service on 9 December 1983, ending his first period of full-time military service. But the shadow of slavery hangs over the gilded life of Richard Drax, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. The rape of female slaves was also common, punishable only by a small fine. Now he could be on the hook for reparations", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Drax&oldid=1139014260, This page was last edited on 12 February 2023, at 22:40. Left his estate, including the plant and stock of the Hall Drax estate, Barbados, and his properties, furniture and other contents to his nephew, Wanley Ellis Sawbridge. In June hesaid of the Black Lives Matter protests: The desecration of the Cenotaph by rioters two weeks ago, on the actual D-Day anniversary, was beyond ironic. He is vociferous on immigration, too. [16] Drax praised May's successor, Boris Johnson, for achieving a trade deal in December 2020,[17] but in February 2021 expressed concern over the Northern Ireland Protocol and disruption to trade in Northern Ireland. The Drax Hall Plantation in Barbados was added to the Register of Members Interests on December 11 days after we told the MP we were running a story. . [12][non-primary source needed], In the House of Commons he has sat on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and currently serves on the European Scrutiny Committee. On 5 February 2013, Drax voted in the House of Commons against a Second Reading of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 which legalised marriage for same-sex couples. On 5 February 2013, Drax voted in the House of Commons against a Second Reading of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 that legalised marriage for same-sex couples. When, periodically, the Africans rebelled, the reprisals were shockingly swift and savage. . This might sound controversial coming from a black person, he began, but there are many parts to the slavery story. [28], At least six of his ancestors, including John Samuel Wanley Sawbridge Erle-Drax and the 17th Lord Dunsany, were Members of Parliament for Dorset and Gloucestershire between the 1680s and 1880s. Truss on 149, Sunak on 132. Furthermore, he has been publicly criticised for failing to file his company accounts on time and omitting to declare his ownership of the Barbados plantation in the parliamentary Register of Members Interests. Once that process is completed, I will of course register it in proper accordance with the rules. Erle-Drax's descendant, Richard Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, was elected as Conservative MP for South Dorset in the United Kingdom general election, 2010 using the 'truncated' name Richard Drax. The mainly 17th-century mansion with its 120ft folly tower is the model for Welland House in the Thomas Hardy novelTwo on a Tower. Mr Drax worth about 150million could also face a parliamentary probe. Richard Drax, Conservative MP for South Dorset, earlier this year. That our great reformers led the world in ending it is often overlooked. "[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. Richardmarried Christian Drax (born Falos (Fullas or Faloys))circa 1366, at age 29 at marriage place. Its crazy, Mr Whitehead said of the campaign. He is a privileged person to have this in his gift.Angela SingerCambridge, It is perhaps to be expected, but nevertheless disappointing, that after generations of his family enjoying so much more than their fair share of the fruits of nature and the labour of others, including slaves, Richard Drax seems unable to rise above himself and take some responsibility, as a few more honourable others have done, for the cost to his fellow humans, past and present, of his inherited property, accumulated wealth and self-serving politics. The Drax family received 4,293 pounds, 12 shillings and 6 pence more than 500,000 today. Clive Stafford Smith organised fictional legal proceedings against Richard Drax using 40 pupils aged between 12 and 18, some of whom are from a school within his South Dorset constituency. An updated register was published over Christmas, revealing an apparent scramble to declare father-of-four Mr Draxs previously unregistered business interests. The comments below have been moderated in advance. However, official sources in Barbados confirm that Richards father owned the plantation and had passed it on to his oldest son, Richard. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? . It only began to end after 1833, when slavery was abolished in the British Empire. Since then, we've grown to have approximately 12,000 offices throughout the United States and . Beckles told us that historically the Drax family has done more harm and violence to the black people of Barbados than any other family. In January 2016, the Labour Party unsuccessfully proposed an amendment in Parliament that would have required private landlords to make their homes "fit for human habitation". Sir James Drax, who hailed from a humble Warwickshire family, had just 300 when he sailed to Barbados with his brother, aged 18. The Drax wealth may be hidden by a great wall of secrecy and unanswered questions away from prying eyes. Until 2008 the plantations covered some 880 acres, but the Draxes have sold more than 200 acres, some for housing development. It is an ironic description, not only because would-be visitors driving into the remote sugar plantation over which the house looms are greeted by a keep out sign, daubed on an oil drum. The Drax family also owned slave plantations in Jamaica, which they sold in the mid-1800s. Mr Drax has no plans to return any time soon.. Christianwas born circa 1341, in Yorkshire, England. ), became owner of Drax Hall. 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