Harewood 1807

Our 2007 exhibition, 'Harewood 1807' was a commemoration of the bi-centenary of the abolition of the slave trade and the Yorkshire election in 1807 contested by William Wilberforce, Henry Lascelles and Lord Milton.

In exhibitions like this Harewood digs deep into its roots, and indeed where the money came from to build this elaborate stately home. By 1787 the Lascelles family had interests in 47 plantations (sugar) and owned thousands of slaves in Barbados and across the West Indies. The Lascelles weren't unique - most merchants of the period were involved in the slave trade.

Find out more via the detailed Harewood 1807 downloadable leaflet. It's a sobering thought that the opulence of Harewood was funded off the back of the slave trade.

In the House there is an introductory panel about the Lascelles' and the West Indies in the Library on the State floor. The Harewood 1807 leaflet outlining the Lascelles involvement in the West Indies trade and the 1807 election is available to all visitors to the House, please ask at the House Desk or Information Centre.

The Harewood West Indies archive will be available online via the Borthwick Institute website and on this website. The archive is currently being conserved and digitised through an HLF grant to the Borthwick. The Lascelles family have actively progressed the availability of the material for public access.

Click here to go to the Borthwick Institute project webpage for Harewood House.