James Chappell (servant)

James Chappell (1648–1730) was an English servant of Sir Christopher Hatton. Chappell saved the life of Hatton and his three young daughters in a 1672 explosion at Castle Cornet in Guernsey. Hatton awarded Chappell a £20-a-year pension in his will which he used to set up a household and become landlord of a public house. Chappell is thought to have been the first black English landlord.

Kirby Hall, depicted in 1829
Late 17th-century depiction of Castle Cornet

Biography

James Chappell was born in 1648 and, at the age of 15, joined the household of Sir Christopher Hatton as a servant at Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire.[1][2] Chappell accompanied Hatton and his family to Guernsey when Hatton was appointed governor in 1670.[1]

The official residence of the governor was Castle Cornet in the Little Roussel. It was struck by lightning in 1672 which ignited a store of gunpowder, triggering a large explosion that killed Hatton's wife and mother.[1][2] Chappell pulled Hatton and his three young daughters from the rubble, saving their lives.[1][3] Hatton and his household, including Chappell, returned to England later that year and stayed briefly in London,[1] and Chappell's marriage to Elizabeth is likely to be that of "Jacobi Chappell" recorded in the 1672 parish register of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster.[4] Chappell and Elizabeth had a daughter, also named Elizabeth, who was baptised in Gretton, near Kirby Hall, on 10 September 1676. This child died young and was buried in 1679.[4]

Chappell was named as a beneficiary in Hatton's 1695 will, being entitled to a pension of £20 a year for the remainder of his life after Hatton's 1706 death.[1][4] Such a sum was a lifechanging amount in this period, especially as most black servants would neither have been paid nor free to leave service.[1][5]

Chappell's wife died in 1704 and he remarried the following year to Mercy Peach; together they had one daughter, Amey. At this time a Thomas Peach, likely to have been Mercy's father or brother, was the licensee of the Hatton Arms.[4] Chappell used his pension to establish a household near Kirby and became landlord of a public house, which local legend states was the Hatton Arms.[1][4] Chappell is believed to have been the first black landlord in England.[6] He died in 1730.[2]

In 2021 Chappell was featured in an English Heritage exhibition on the African diaspora in English history. A painting of Chappell in later life was commissioned from Glory Samjolly and exhibited at Kirby Hall in June 2021.[5][2]

References
  1. "Learn: Black Lives in Britain". English Heritage. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  2. Cronin, Kate (9 June 2021). "The hero African servant who saved the life of Sir Christopher Hatton honoured at new Kirby Hall exhibition". Northamptonshire Telegraph. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  3. Current Archaeology. A & W. Selkirk. 2002. p. 471.
  4. Habib, Imtiaz (15 May 2017). Black Lives in the English Archives, 1500–1677: Imprints of the Invisible. Routledge. p. 357. ISBN 978-1-317-17394-6.
  5. "The African figures 'forgotten' by England's cultural past". BBC News. 9 June 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  6. Quarmby, Katharine (20 April 2005). "Uncovering black history". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
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