Drax of Drax Hall, researching the landed gentry in Britain and Caribbean
Paul Lashmar explores the Drax family’s 500-year involvement in the sugar trade through newly published research spanning archives in Britain and Barbados.
Wednesday 15th October 2025 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Event type: Virtual
Booking for this event is now closed.
Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Slave_traffic_RMG_PX9696.tiff
Details:
Published in March 2025, Drax of Drax Hall traces the Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax family of Dorset across 500 years and 18 generations, revealing their deep entanglement in the British sugar industry built on enslavement in Barbados and Jamaica. Based on meticulous archival research, the book draws from sources including the National Archives, County Archives, Churchill College Archive in Cambridge, and collections in Barbados. In this talk, Lashmar shares insights from his research journey and the remarkable stories he uncovered.
Speaker
Paul Lashmar is an investigative journalist and Reader in Journalism at City St George’s, University of London. He has taken an interest in the history of enslavement since developing a Channel 4 series on Britain’s slave trade in 1999. He has worked for The Observer, Granada Television’s World in Action, and The Independent, and is the author, co-author, or co-editor of six books. He lives in Dorset.
Booking:
Booking for this event is now closed.
