Press & Reviews
Sugar, Slaves and High Society
by R.P.J. Blake
“The theme of the book is a sustained acknowledgement that the luxurious lifestyle, enjoyed by a succession of talented and colourful characters, was supported by the proceeds of slavery. The account of the rise and fall of family fortunes is written with style, perception, and a sense of atonement, beautifully illustrated throughout by pictures of many artworks, documents and artefacts held in public and private collections…Educative and highly readable.”
Through The Green March 2024 (the quarterly journal of the British Golf Collectors’ Society).
"...such an absorbing study of the family, who surely had their fair share of misfortune and tragedy. The link between the Grants and the wealth they enjoyed, made on the backs of enslaved workers in Jamaica, tolls like a bell throughout the book and is one of its strengths."
Sam Smiles, Honorary Professor, Department of Art History and Visual Culture, University of Exeter.
“Superb research, sumptuous illustrations.”
Historical Novel Society (Issue 106 November 2023)
“...such a well-researched and impressively written book”
The Scottish Local History Forum, Autumn 2023 (Issue 116).
“...a detailed, measured and timely family history.”
The Field, August 2023.
“A fastidiously researched, highly personal and fabulously detailed window into the lives of Scotland's 18th and 19th century landed elite. [He] doesn't shy away from the difficult topics of colonialism, slavery and wealth transfer to build an accurate picture of the experiences of his ancestors.”
Scottish Field, August 2023.
“Above all, this book is a good read—a page-turner with a unique historical narrative derived from Richard Blake’s meticulous research of previously unpublished material and amply illustrated with maps, illustrations, and portraits. It moves effortlessly through generations of the Grants of Kilgraston, linking them to the social, military, sporting and artistic worlds of the time and underlines the ever-present reality that the slave economy sustained lavish lifestyles and successful careers, the links to which were hidden in plain sight.”
East Lothian Life, summer 2023.
“Richard Blake’s Slaves, Sugar and High Society is a fascinating account of a family – the Grants (of Kilgraston) - whose fortunes were intimately linked with the rise and subsequent decline of the slave economy of the Caribbean. The book is timely. Scotland’s involvement in and the financial benefits accruing from the sugar plantations of Jamaica and elsewhere in the West Indies are currently the subject of enormous interest and heated debate. Indirectly too, the Grant story underlines the significance of Scotland’s place within the expansive British empire after the Union of 1707. Critical to the Grants’ story were the opportunities for advancement for ambitious and adventurous (and well-connected, often through kin) Scots provided in Nova Scotia – ceded to Great Britain from France as part of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Even more important was the sugar-producing island of Jamaica, seized by England from Spain in 1655; after 1707 Jamaica was open for Scots to purchase and manage the enslaved people who worked the sugar plantations and even to govern. John Grant was appointed Chief Justice in 1784.
“This built the foundation for the Grants’ purchase of Kilgraston in Perthshire estate back in Scotland (so often the aim of Scots abroad), and their consequent participation in British society at the highest levels in the late Georgian and Victorian eras. Richard Blake’s wonderfully well-written book, which draws on previously unseen family archives, offers the reader vivid – and unique - insights into the social, political, military and artistic worlds of the time. Sir Frank Grant, not the only family member to be knighted, was a painter of high repute and rank: he was commissioned to paint Walter Scott, Queen Victoria, and Prince Albert. But the records Blake uses also reveal much family tragedy – not least the loss through disease and in battle. Ultimately, like many other nouveau riche families, the Grants overspent – a serious matter once their income from Jamaica began to dry up. Lavish entertainment expected of Perthshire’s landed proprietors, and children, of whom there were many, cost money. In 1872 Kilgraston House was ravaged by fire. Although the mansion was rebuilt, in 1930 it was transferred to the Society of the Sacred Heart and became a girls’ school. Which it still is.
Slaves, Sugar and High Society is a family history. It is also the history of localities – Cromdale from where the Grants of Kilgraston came, and Perthshire. But it is a British story too – incorporating class and social advancement, London society, colonialism and empire.
Equally it makes an important contribution to Scotland’s history, revealing in remarkable detail the motivations and experiences of an upwardly mobile family. Above all though it is a riveting read.”
Christopher A Whatley OBE, FRSE, Emeritus Professor, Scottish History, University of Dundee.
“This fascinating study of a Scottish family in the 18th and 19th century sheds light, not only on the impact of slavery, but on the immense wealth it generated, and the lives it touched. Castles and mansions across Scotland were built and adorned on the back of immense suffering on the sugar plantations of the West Indies; then, when slavery was abolished, those families who had benefited from it, were rewarded in the form of government compensation. Richard Blake’s account of the Grants of Kilgraston is much more than this, however. His cast of characters is colourful, wayward, idiosyncratic and adventurous – men and women who made their mark on history, both at home and abroad.”
Magnus Linklater, C.B.E.
“…it tells a fairly typical story for the Scottish landed elites in this period, and perhaps a less well acknowledged one, which is that slavery links were often hidden in plain sight. There is also a story of how seamlessly and quickly people such as the two Grants were able to integrate back into Scottish and British landed society following their sojourn in Jamaica. Again this is not unusual, although the ways in which it was part of a revitalization of Scottish landed society in the later Georgian era has not perhaps been fully recognized. It is significant in this context that the Perth Hunt dates from the 1780s.”
“I should say that there are some great stories along the way. I particularly enjoyed chapter 10. The importance of art collecting in this period as an aspect of a landed identity comes across at various points very strongly, as does participation in various sports, notably hunting.”
Bob Harris, Professor of British History, Worcester College, University of Oxford.
“A thoroughly researched account of how a Highland family made their fortune and how changing mores in society lost it. Richard pulls no punches about the Grants of Kilgraston's involvement in the African Slave Trade, or how pursuing a 'high' life style drained money from their estate. The book is a refreshingly honest look at the 18th century practices of how a family sought to establish itself in society in Scotland.”
Dr.Steve Goodall, Director of Grantown Museum & Heritage Trust, on behalf of Clan Grant Society.
“Richard Blake’s book is a fascinating, frank and moving exploration of the intersection of the life of a family with the continuities and changes of history in the context of the British Empire. Of particular note, Richard being a lawyer himself, is the discussion of the work of his ancestor John Grant, Chief Justice of Jamaica, who collected the first set of Caribbean law reports, published posthumously in Scotland. These reports demonstrate the scope of legal business in what was a very wealthy island; but Richard does not shy away from the moral complexities of the enslavement of Africans to create family wealth.”
John W. Cairns, LL.B., Ph.D., F.R.S.E., Professor of Civil Law, University of Edinburgh.