Bertie Greatheed (1759–1826) was an English dramatist, slave owner and landowner.
Life
Greatheed was born on 19 October 1759, the son of the MP
Samuel Greatheed of
Guy's Cliffe
Guy's Cliffe (variously spelled with and without an apostrophe and a final "e") is a hamlet and former civil parish on the River Avon and the Coventry Road between Warwick and Leek Wootton, in the parish of Leek Wootton and Guy's Cliffe, in the ...
, near
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...
, and his wife Lady Mary Bertie, daughter of
Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster.
After the deaths of his parents, he inherited
Guy's Cliffe Estate in
Warwick
Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...
, which had been bought by his father, and the Caribbean plantation on
St Kitts
Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...
near the capital,
Basseterre
Basseterre (; Saint Kitts Creole: ''Basterre'') is the capital and largest city of Saint Kitts and Nevis with an estimated population of 14,000 in 2018. Geographically, the Basseterre port is located at , on the south western coast of Saint Kit ...
, which had been established by his grandfather, John Greatheed.
He also inherited land in
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...
through his mother's family.
The majority of his income in his earlier life came from the St Kitts plantation, although he also had some income from his land holdings in Warwick.
He invested his wealth in the development of the
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
spa town
A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits.
Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. He ...
at
Leamington Priors, which later became known as Leamington Spa.
He owned building plots on either side of what is now the
Parade in Leamington,
and was a partner in the
Royal Pump Rooms
The Royal Pump Rooms is a cultural centre on the Parade in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England. It was the most famous of several spa baths opened in Leamington between the late-18th and mid-19th centuries. People would travel from throughou ...
, which was located on five acres of his land.
The Canaries plantation was managed on Greatheed's behalf by his uncle Craister until 1772, and then by Richard Greatheed, another family member.
In the early 1780s, the estate paid tax on over 230 enslaved people, and in 1788 made profits of £380, which was considered a bad year.
Correspondence between Greatheed and his St Kitts plantation managers is now archived at
Warwickshire County Record Office, and includes information about the trade of enslaved people, production of sugar and rum and the profits of the estate. Bertie Greatheed supported the
abolition of slavery
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The British ...
,
and described the plantation as his "odious property", however he continued to own enslaved people. In 1835, his descendants, including Lord Charles Greatheed Bertie Percy, the husband of his granddaughter, received £1,223 6s 7d in compensation after the
Slavery Abolition Act 1833
The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. IV c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which provided for the gradual abolition of slavery in most parts of the British Empire. It was passed by Earl Grey's reforming administrat ...
.
Family
In 1780, Greatheed married his first cousin, Ann Greatheed, who was born in St Kitts. They had one son, also called Bertie, born in 1781.
Greatheed travelled extensively throughout Europe with his family, and resided in Germany, France and Italy.
In 1803, they were detained in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
as prisoners of war, alongside many other British families. The younger Bertie Greatheed was becoming recognised as an artist, and his painting of
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
impressed the Emperor's family and probably gave the Greatheed's favourable treatment.
Whilst staying in
Vicenza
Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan.
Vicenza is a thr ...
in Italy, his son died suddenly of
influenza on 8 October 1804, aged 23. Shortly after his son's death, it was revealed he had an illegitimate daughter, Ann Caroline, with a woman in
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
.
Ann Caroline was brought to England by her grandparents and raised at Guys Cliffe. She married
Lord Charles Greatheed Bertie Percy, son of
Algernon Percy, 1st Earl of Beverley on 20 March 1823.
Works
When residing in Florence he became a member of the society called ''
Gli Oziosi''. Greatheed was a contributor to the privately printed collection of fugitive pieces of the ''Gli Oziosi'', the ''Arno Miscellany'' (Florence, 1784). The following year he contributed to the ''Florence Miscellany'' (Florence, 1785), a collection of poems by the
Della-Cruscans. Greatheed was termed by
William Gifford
William Gifford (April 1756 – 31 December 1826) was an English critic, editor and poet, famous as a satirist and controversialist.
Life
Gifford was born in Ashburton, Devon, to Edward Gifford and Elizabeth Cain. His father, a glazier and ...
the
Reuben
Reuben or Reuven is a Biblical male first name from Hebrew רְאוּבֵן (Re'uven), meaning "behold, a son". In the Bible, Reuben was the firstborn son of Jacob.
Variants include Rúben in European Portuguese; Rubens in Brazilian Portugue ...
of the Della-Cruscans, in his satirical ''Baviad'' and ''Mæviad''.
A
blank verse
Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century", and Pa ...
tragedy by Greatheed, ''The Regent'' was brought out at
Drury Lane Theatre
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Drur ...
on 1 April 1788, supported by
John Kemble and
Sarah Siddons
Sarah Siddons (''née'' Kemble; 5 July 1755 – 8 June 1831) was a Welsh actress, the best-known tragedienne of the 18th century. Contemporaneous critic William Hazlitt dubbed Siddons as "tragedy personified".
She was the elder sister of Joh ...
; it ran for nine nights. The epilogue was furnished by
Hester Piozzi
Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi (née Salusbury; later Piozzi; 27 January 1741 or 16 January 1740 – 2 May 1821),Contemporary records, which used the Julian calendar and the Annunciation Style of enumerating years, recorded her birth as 16 January ...
.
A reviewer included "The plot is altogether interesting; but the scene in which the child is introduced is too horrid an outrage upon the feelings, and such as the state the English stage will not sanction. Here the audience Strongly expressed their disapprobation."
The author later published it with a dedication to Mrs. Siddons, who had once been an attendant upon his mother, and was his frequent guest at Guy's Cliffe.
References
External links
Bertie Greatheedat th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)*
Bertie Greatheed Papers. James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greatheed, Bertie
1759 births
1826 deaths
18th-century English writers
18th-century English male writers
19th-century English writers
18th-century English people
People from Warwick
18th-century British dramatists and playwrights
19th-century English dramatists and playwrights
English male dramatists and playwrights
19th-century English male writers