Thomas Blake (1721) “9 yards of cloth for Black Tom”
Thomas Blake was at the house from 1721 to his death in 1728. He is our earliest recording so far of an African descended person in this region. ‘Mr Wentworth's Black’. We are not sure of his status. We don’t know where he came from. The wording suggests ownership and he - a boy we think - is our quietest voice. But here he is. With the records of his clothing and his funeral. He walked these halls for 7 years.
George Senegal (1763) “Travelling expenses… for turnpikes”
George Senegal worked at Wentworth Woodhouse from 1763-1778. He was perhaps a result of the English and French fighting over ownership of Senegal. A country that didn’t belong to either of them. We don’t know how he got here but he may have been given his name at his baptism at Wentworth church. We do know a lot about George’s life here. He worked as a footman at first and worked his way to Under Butler. Among other records he traveled from London to Wentworth regularly and is referenced in records for Grosvenor Square. He marries a laundry maid, Sarah Womack, who also worked at Wentworth Woodhouse. We don’t know why they married in London. They had a child, also called George, who sadly died a few months after his father. They are buried close to each other in Wentworth Church. George Senegal was at Wentworth Woodhouse for 15 years.
“…shoes for the Blacks”
After George’s death his widow Sarah was paid for ‘shoes for the Blacks’ in 1778. As this is in a London account book the Blacks would have been Romulus or Remus. They would’ve met. George once again being at the heart of this Black community even after his death.
Henry Fryday (1769) “Five shirts for Fryday…speak Community”
Henry Fryday was here from c. 1769–1773. He was a child. He died at 19. He and George Senegal spent 4 years together in this house. They would’ve passed each other in these halls. Maybe George, being senior, would have to tell Fryday what to do, where to go, what was expected. Maybe when the work was done they listened to each other's stories.
Romulus & Remus - 1777
“You cannot ‘gift’ what is free”
Romulus and Remus were ‘gifted’ to Lady Rockingham in 1777, when they were around sixteen. They were talented French horn players. Enslaved, these two were later listed as footmen. The fascination for Black as accessory, the obsession with Black as spectacle, that they announced wealth whilst being denied personhood. One of the Rockinghams' many properties was here at Wentworth Woodhouse. Stately homes are a complex ecosystem designed for the service of one family. Records of payments to Romulus and Remus, money spent on their clothing, medicine and even horn repair, sit in the Sheffield Archive.
Romulus and Remus, wrote Governor Wentworth, had outstanding ‘musical ability’ and were ‘free from vice’. He hoped the Rockinghams would be pleased with his ‘gift’. They were boys. Let's never forget that. And by the touching of these brown stained ledgers, we see not only them, their enforced journey from enslavement, to working as footmen, to marriages, deaths, children, and friendship, but community. In his will Romulus wrote.
To Remus Stanfield, servant to the Marchioness of Rockingham, my musical instruments together will all my music (which I wish him to keep as long as he lives) Romulus also leaves money to another famous Black Georgian, Cesar Picton in London. This Georgian Black community is speaking of the times, of their lives and of ours.
Thomas Spriggs - 1864
“Another Black footman”
Thomas Spriggs was here from 1864 to 1868. An African American, he was about 14 when he started working for Lord Milton. Accused of stealing and hiding the trinkets and spoons in his room he pled guilty and spent time in prison and got back to America in 1869. We don’t how he got here, except we know that Milton spent some time in America and could’ve bought him over. We don’t know if he was stealing, or why, was he desperate to get home or could not help himself. We do know that his story is one that needs more exploration as well as care.