Musings from the Merse
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
A bloggee asks as follows
I wonder if you were assailed as we were at Paxton House over the weekend by the same odd tale told by one of the raffleticket-selling ladies?
It was an uninvited (and very defensive) explanation of the planned visit to Pax House of some descendants of the slave workers on “the family’s” sugar plantations in the West Indies. She went on to emphasize that the flow of money when the second brother took over the estates was from UK to West Indies to pay off £3000 of debt. The story ignored the huge wealth created for the family before this from the same sugar estates.
We wondered afterwards why we had been picked out for this and assume that it was a message being given to anyone who would listen. Why???? The answer to that came in the News on Saturday evening of Blair’s statement expressing sorrow at Britain’s role in the slave trade.
Do we get the feeling that certain aspirational people are feeling sensitive about the source of their wealth? Or may feel it necessary to attempt to protect their chances of be-ermined glory?
Certainly Huttonian missed this spiel as he went around unguided being familiar with the house and its history but the slaving connection previously eluded me.I wonder if this apology business is not getting a bit out of hand. Am I to bare my chest aboit being a former colonial servant and how about Dorothy Popplegate whose dog crapped on Paxton main street in 1876-she never picked the excreta up nor did she say sorry. Time for her great grandchilden to make amends?
Yes I am still in London. I can apologise for that.
I wonder if you were assailed as we were at Paxton House over the weekend by the same odd tale told by one of the raffleticket-selling ladies?
It was an uninvited (and very defensive) explanation of the planned visit to Pax House of some descendants of the slave workers on “the family’s” sugar plantations in the West Indies. She went on to emphasize that the flow of money when the second brother took over the estates was from UK to West Indies to pay off £3000 of debt. The story ignored the huge wealth created for the family before this from the same sugar estates.
We wondered afterwards why we had been picked out for this and assume that it was a message being given to anyone who would listen. Why???? The answer to that came in the News on Saturday evening of Blair’s statement expressing sorrow at Britain’s role in the slave trade.
Do we get the feeling that certain aspirational people are feeling sensitive about the source of their wealth? Or may feel it necessary to attempt to protect their chances of be-ermined glory?
Certainly Huttonian missed this spiel as he went around unguided being familiar with the house and its history but the slaving connection previously eluded me.I wonder if this apology business is not getting a bit out of hand. Am I to bare my chest aboit being a former colonial servant and how about Dorothy Popplegate whose dog crapped on Paxton main street in 1876-she never picked the excreta up nor did she say sorry. Time for her great grandchilden to make amends?
Yes I am still in London. I can apologise for that.
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