Lt. John Lindsay of HMS Trent (1759-1763), the father of Dido Belle

[Ian Trackman]

Hello everyone,

I’m trying to find the birth date of Dido Belle, the mixed-race daughter of John Lindsay, commanding officer of HMS Trent between 1759 and 1763 and Maria Belle, a slave. Almost nothing is known of Dido’s early life. She was baptised in London in 1766, when the church record states that she was aged “5 y”. Shortly afterwards, she was taken into care by Lord and Lady Mansfield at Kenwood House, their country home in north London. The Kenwood household accounts show regular payments “To Dido on her Birthday by Ld M’s order”. Unfortunately, there is no specific payment date. However, in 1792, the payment appears between two dated entries for 3rd and 5th July. So, assuming that Dido’s birthday was correctly known at the time, it can be deduced as 3rd, 4th or 5th July 1761.

To corroborate this, I’m now trying to establish from naval records whether – and, if so, where – she could have been conceived about nine months earlier, that is, in the spring of 1760. I’ve located the log of HMS Trent at the National Maritime Museum, from which it appears that Lieutenant (later Captain and Admiral) Lindsay was in or near Charles Town (present-day Charleston), South Carolina. However, I’m having difficulty in reading the handwriting and abbreviations in the log and would appreciate assistance from an expert.

There is also some supplementary evidence about the circumstances of Dido’s birth and Lindsay’s ongoing relationship with Maria Belle. If anyone can please help me, I would be happy to supply more detailed notes of my research so far.

Ian

[Nicholas Blake]

If you post the pictures of the log we can help decipher it.

[Ian Trackman]

There are 174 pages, 83 of which are for Lt. Lindsay, so too big at 126MB for an attachment to my original posting. How can I make it available ?

[Sam Willis]

HI Ian – can you attach a few sample pages as individual pictures that we can look at on the Forum and then plot a way forward. Each page can be 512 KB so should be enough resolution to view.
Sam

[Ian Trackman]

Here are three samples pages. I’ve had to drop the original resolution from the PDF to fit under 512KB.

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[David Hepper]

The logs kept by Captain (not Lieutenant) Lindsay as Commanding Officer of the Trent may be found in the National Archives:
ADM 51/3994

Also the ship’s Master’s log is in the NA:
ADM 52/1481

They should tell you where Trent was on any day

If Dido Belle was born in July 1761 then surely conception would be October/November 1760, rather than the Spring of that year?

Trent reported in contemporary newspapers as sailing in July 1760 “for the coast of Guiney” and in September off Senegal and then by December was in Jamaica

[Nicholas Blake]

Photo 1 confirms the ship was moored in Charles Town Harbour on Monday 3rd March but as David says, nine months earlier is October or November. Incidentally, if you’re photographing logs etc. colour photos are much easier to read, even if the writing is only in black ink.

[Ian Trackman]

David Hepper emailed :

[begins]
The logs kept by Captain (not Lieutenant) Lindsay as Commanding Officer of the Trent may be found in the National Archives:
ADM 51/3994

Also the ship’s Master’s log is in the NA:
ADM 52/1481

They should tell you where Trent was on any day

If Dido Belle was born in July 1761 then surely conception would be October/November 1760, rather than the Spring of that year?

Trent reported in contemporary newspapers as sailing in July 1760 “for the coast of Guiney” and in September off Senegal and then by December was in Jamaica
[ends]

Of course, my dates were wrong. Here are three more sample pages from October 1760. David, can you please give me references for the contemporary newspapers ?

In reply to Nicholas, the original three samples were in colour as supplied to me by the National Maritime Museum. I’ve had to convert the October pages to black and white to get them under the 512KB limit.

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[Nicholas Blake]

His latitude and longitude are N and W of Greenwich and he is on passage from Guinea to the Leeward Islands.

6 October is Cape St Magnus
18 October is Nevis
19 October is Old Road, St Christopher
23 October is St Eustatia 5 leagues away
24 October is St Bartholomew bearing E, 5 miles

The entries that show him possibly leaving the ship are:
20 and 21 October, moored in Old Road St Christopher, watering the ship (ie filling the barrels with fresh drinking water)

If you would like to supply the complete set for those two months we can see where he goes.

N.

[Ian Trackman]

Here are the copies of the logs for September, October and December 1760.

David Hepper refers to Captain’s and Master’s logs at National Archives. My understanding is that Lt. Lindsay was the commanding officer of HMS Trent. Would the TNA logs have any more information ? I can’t access them pending Covid.

How Lindsay met Maria Belle is an open question. Lord Mansfield tells a guest (Thomas Hutchinson) : “Sir John Lindsay having taken her mother prisoner in a Spanish vessel, brought her to England where she was delivered of this girl, of which she was then with child”. But Mansfield might only be repeating what Lindsay had told him, rather than having first-hand knowledge. Is there any possibility that Lindsay would have been able to keep Maria on board his ship rather than meeting her in port ?

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[Ian Trackman]

More files

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[Ian Trackman]

More files (November 1760)

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[Ian Trackman]

Correction : Here are the copies of the logs for September, October and November 1760.

[William Lindsay]

I note that Lindsay signed himself Lindesay in his log book.
Obviously names had a habit of being spelt differently in those days but I surprised he spelt it that way himself.
Bill Lindsay (no relation).

[Ian Trackman]

Yes, particularly as his father was Sir Alexander Lindsay, 3rd Baronet of Evelick. An affectation ?

[Author]

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