The home of the Lascelles family for hundreds of years, Harewood House is a renowned landmark in Leeds. However, the estate's affluent grandeur houses a dark and troubled past.
In the late seventeenth century, members of the Lascelles family purchased plantations in the West Indies and the income generated from these plantations allowed Henry Lascelles to purchase the estate in 1738, his son, Edwin, who was the first Baron of Harewood and a wealthy slave owner, built the home between 1759 and 1771 to replace the original manor house on the estate.
Their money came initially from trade, mainly sugar plantations in Barbados which were worked by African slaves. The Lascelles brothers focused on their production and exports, importing slaves from West Africa to work on the plantations.
