George Edward Doney (~1758–1809) is believed to have been born in Gambia around 1758. He was transported to Virginia as a young boy and sold into slavery. He came to Watford, Hertfordshire in around 1765 as a servant for the Earl of Essex at Cassiobury House, continuing to serve the family for 44 years.[1]
An unfinished painting from c.1809, Harvest Home, by J. M. W. Turner on his second visit to Cassiobury, depicts a black servant at a harvest dinner in one of the barns at Cassiobury House. Black figures have featured in many Western paintings but were typically shown at the edge of the canvas as peripheral, subordinate characters; Turner's positioning of the servant in the main group of people is thought to indicate that this was a high-ranking servant in the Cassiobury household, and this is likely Doney himself.[3][4]
Death and burial
Doney died a freeman in 1809, two years after the British abolition of the Atlantic slave trade. His burial at St Mary's Church occurred on 8 September 1809, and a handsome headstone with an original poetic epigraph was erected in the churchyard.[1][4] The gravestone was given Grade II listed status in 2008.[4]
