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Drax of Drax Hall : how one British family got rich (and stayed rich) from sugar and slavery
While the British landed gentry were to profit from chattel slavery in the West Indies, the Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax family of Dorset pioneered it. It all started when James Drax, one of the first settlers in Barbados in 1627, effectively founded the British sugar industry. For more than 200 years, the family enslaved up to 330 people at any time and became enormously rich. Today, the bloodline is unbroken, and former Tory MP Richard Drax heads the family from his vast Charborough Estate in Dorset. With physical assets worth at least £150m - not to mention the 621-acre sugar plantation in Barbados - he was the wealthiest landowner in the House of Commons. Unseated in 2024, he remains a hero amongst hard-right culture warriors for his refusal to make any reparations for his family's role in slavery. This is a history that lifts the lid on the family.
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