Dido Belle Chunky Beaded Bracelet

Dido Belle is a collection of porcelain jewels named after Dido Elizabeth Belle (1761–1804), the daughter of Maria Belle, an enslaved Black woman, and Sir John Lindsay, a British Navy captain and enslaver.

Dido was born into slavery in the West Indies. At the age of six, she was taken to live with her father's uncle, William Murray, the 1st Earl of Mansfield, who served as Lord Chief Justice. Dido was raised alongside her cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray, at William Murray's residence in Kenwood, North London.

While it was not uncommon for a powerful aristocrat to be the legal guardian of an illegitimate relative, it was highly unusual for a mixed-heritage child—born to a formerly enslaved mother—to be raised not as a servant, but as a member of an aristocratic British family in Georgian Britain. Dido's unique position allowed her to navigate both aristocratic circles and the struggles of her identity, reflecting the societal issues of race, class, and gender in the 18th century.