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.
Biography
[edit | edit source]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 fictionalized painting of Chappell in later life was commissioned from Glory Samjolly, who used a black male model's likeness as Chappell and exhibited at Kirby Hall in June 2021.[5][2]
References
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