Who is Heathcliff, really?

Post #1 - Byron, the Beatles and Black Slavery

“Mad, bad and dangerous to know.” That is how Lady Caroline Lamb described the English poet, Lord George Gordon Sixth Baron Byron (b. 1788-1824) whose male characters often reflected his own persona. Thus, the Byronic hero is defined as an antihero of the highest order, typically rebellious, arrogant, anti-social or in exile and darkly, enticingly romantic. This also describes the hero of Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights”, Heathcliff. No last name needed. Or given. Which immediately begs the question: who is he?

A group of historians and writers think they know. They think he looks like this man, Robert Wedderburn. The son of a white Briton and an African woman, brought back to England. A man who rebelled when he discovered that he was not to be given the same opportunity, standing and property to which his father and half-brothers were entitled. They think “Wuthering Heights” is the story of an inside outsider whose existence and expectations clash with the social order. If this sounds familiar it’s because it was. Writers tend to respond to what they see and write what they know. Emily Bronte knew Liverpool, England. It was near her home in Haworth, just 51 miles away as the crow flies.

If you’re a typical baby boomer when you hear Liverpool you think the Beatles and Ed Sullivan. If you were a typical 18th century British commoner you would think rum, sugar and slave ships. That’s right. By 1795, the city that sent rock and roll to America controlled 80% of the British and 40% of the entire European slave trade. That’s probably also why the International Slavery Museum is located there. Although Britain abolished participation in the slave trade in 1807, the city had become well established and prosperous enough to survive and many continued to participate in the slave trade illegally through the 1880’s.

Remnants of the slave trade abound in Liverpool. Here is Speke Hall, the ancestral home of the Norris family. One of the first participants in the slave trade, the Norris family sent the first slave ship, The Blessing, from the Liverpool docks in October 1700. And in the corner of the courtyard of St Nicholas Church, slave shackles were sold. The city’s magnificent town hall, a testament to its wealth, sports a frieze of elephants and black heads. The Sea Forth docks take their name from Sea Forth House, owned by a large slave trader who received a settlement of about $10 million dollars when participation in the slave trade was abolished in Britain. Ropes for the sailing ships were made on Bold Street, named after slave merchant, Jonas Bold. Penny Lane? It was probably named after James Penny, a captain of nine slave ships and an investor in 40 more. (Harder to sing that kicky tune now, isn’t it?)

l