Barbados calls for Benedict Cumberbatch to pay reparations for family's slave plantation
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Benedict Cumberbatch's family could soon be forced to make payments to Barbados in reparation for their ancestors slave plantation there in the 18th and 19th century.
The actor, who played plantation owner Master Ford in 12 Years A Slave, has spoken out about his controversial family heritage before.
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It was the Dr Strange actor's fifth great-grandfather, Abraham Cumberbatch, who bought the family's sugar plantation in Barbados in 1728.
The plantation became home to around 250 slaves before it was eventually shut down with the abolishment of slavery over a century later.
When slavery was finally abolished in the 1830s, the Cumberbatch family were compensated with £6,000 - which equates to around £3.6 million today.
In 2015, Cumberbatch revealed that his mum, Wanda Ventham, had suggested he go by a different name when he decided to get into acting so he wouldn't be associated with his controversial heritage.
Speaking of his depiction of abolitionist Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger in his film Amazing Grace, Cumberbatch has said that he took on the role as a 'sort of apology' for his family history to 'attest to his sense of shame.'
But now, the government in Barbados are calling for the ancestors of slave-owning families, like Cumberbatch's, to pay back reparations.
Barbados became a republic last year after removing the late Queen Elizabeth II as head of state.
Speaking to The Telegraph, General secretary of the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration David Denny said: "Any descendants of white plantation owners who have benefitted from the slave trade should be asked to pay reparations, including the Cumberbatch family."
The Barbados government are also looking at MP Richard Drax, who inherited his own family's 250-acre sugar plantation Drax Hall.
Mr Denny has been campaigning for Drax to pay 'hundreds of millions' towards a number of community projects in Barbados, including building schools and health centres, and putting down roads.
David Comissiong, Barbados' ambassador to the Caribbean community, is also calling for Mr Drax and other descendants of slave-owning families to pay reparations.
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"A lot of this history is only really coming to light now," he said.
Drax is now under serious pressure to return the inherited land to Barbados. If the issue can't be resolved, Barbados MP Trevor Prescod has threatened to take legal action against the Drax family in international courts.
If Barbados win their case, Richard Drax will be the first descendant of a slave-owning family to be prosecuted - which lead to plenty more cases against those with slave-owning ancestors.
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