elizabeth barrett

[elizabethg]

was elizabeth barrett browning of an african origin?

because i thought that the barretts of wimpole street were a white family

[Clanad]

Check here for unsubstantiated speculation...

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/ebb/huangal.html

[Peter Pedant]

No Elizabeth was no rappin' black momma, if that is what you mean.

The family had extensive plantation in the West indies - where alot of black african slaves were....and the family was ruined by the abolition of slavery in the british empire in 1833. They were at that time living at Hope End and that goes down the spout and it is off to Wimpole Street.....

The truth is often stranger than fiction - the web page given above is OK, but I think the b&w film is nearer the mark. Old man barrett really is crazy, and when Elizabeth elopes, Flush (the dog) really does run back to the house, whereupon old man barrett really does say to Octavius, take it to the vet and have it poisoned! Octavius in this first act of defiance says he wont.

But hollering up and down the stairs. liz'beth honey, dat you? when she comes thru the front door, - - I dont think so.