Hope End (Childhood Home of EBB)

Elizabeth Barret Browning grew up on the Hope End Estate in Herefordshire, where her family moved in 1809. They remained there until 1832, when financial difficulties arising from the Baptist War, a slave rebellion that impacted the economic stability of the Barretts' Jamaican plantations, compelled them to relocate to Sidmouth, Devon, in the southeast of England.

Hope End Mansion. Watercolour and pencil by EBB’s sister Arabella Moulton-Barrett, 1831
Source: Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Selected Early Works, ed. Beverly Taylor et. al., xvii

Parent Map

Key Locations: EBB and the Landmarks of Slavery

Coordinates

Latitude: 52.069970000000
Longitude: -2.406616000000

Timeline of Events Associated with Hope End (Childhood Home of EBB)

Date Event Manage
circa. 1820 to circa. 1822

Elizabeth Barrett Barrett Writes "The African"

It is estimated that Elizabeth Barrett Barrett (later, Browning) wrote "The African," the first and longest of her poems about slavery, when she was in her early teens. The narrative poem, which remained unpublished until 2010, is based on an account shared with her by Richard Barrett, a family cousin and plantation owner in Jamaica. 

First page of "The African" manuscript.
First page of "The African" manuscript.
25 Dec 1831 to 5 Jan 1832

The Baptist War

Lasting from Christmas day in 1831 until its eventual suppression on January 5, 1832, the Great Jamaican Slave Revolt was led by Black Baptist preacher Sam Sharpe. The uprising began as a strike centered on demands for increased wages but became violent on December 27th with the burning of the Kensington Estate in Montego Bay. Despite a crucial victory early on due to stockpiled weapons and ammunition, the enslaved workers' cause was weakened when martial law was enacted on December 31st, and the forces surrendered entirely by January 5th. The uprising became one of the largest in the West Indies, involving nearly 60,000 members (or 20%) of the island's enslaved population. By the end of the fight, rebel forces had set fire to over 100 properties. There were no deaths on the side of the colonial military and over 500 on that of the enslaved Jamaicans--207 killed during the revolt and another 310 to 340, including Sharpe, executed afterward. Despite the defeat of the enslaved population, the revolt played a crucial role in furthering abolitionist causes across the British Empire, as seen in the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act in August of the following year.

 Adolphe Duperly, The Destruction of Roehampton Estate. 1832 Adolphe Duperly, The Destruction of Roehampton Estate. 1832