Benedict Cumberbatch faces compensation claim over slave-owning ancestors
thesun.co.ukSHERLOCK actor Benedict Cumberbatch faces a compensation claim over slave-owning ancestors. His family once ran a plantation with 250 slaves on Barbados, which now wants reparations.
The Doctor Strange star’s seventh great grandad, Abraham, bought the land in 1728 — and made a fortune from it over the next 100 years.
But David Denny, who leads the fight for compensation, said: “Any descendants of white plantation owners who’ve benefited from the slave trade should be asked to pay reparations, including the Cumberbatch family.” Cumberbatch’s ancestors were said to have been paid £6,000 compensation, the equivalent today of £3.6 million, when slavery was abolished in the 1830s.
He previously admitted his mother had encouraged him not to use his real name as an actor over concerns at the family slavery links.
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