Care home honours black gardener abducted as a child from Africa in 18th century

A care home has planted a rose garden in honour of a black gardener who was snatched as a child from Africa in the 18th century.

At the age of eight, a black child arrived in Gwynedd, Wales from west Africa in 1746 at a time when Britain was engaged in the slave trade.

According to the Dictionary of Welsh Biography, news about his life published after his death in 1786, stated he was taken by force from Africa.

The child was baptised with a new Welsh name 'John Ystumllyn' and was taken by the Wynn family to their Ystumllyn estate in Criccieth. He learned to speak English and Welsh and became a servant, before becoming a gardener on the Ystumllyn estate.

In a floral tribute to one of Britain’s first black gardeners who lived most of his life in Gwynedd, care home group Pendine Park has planted a bed of 18 roses, bred in honour of John Ystumllyn. The yellow rose is planted outside Pendine’s Bodlondeb centre of excellence for dementia care in Wrexham.

Pendine Park's head gardener Andrew Jones said: “It’s a really beautiful rose and has a wonderful scent. The rose is very, very nice. It starts off a creamy white and then goes a gentle sort of yellow as it opens.

“As a gardener myself, the fact that it’s commemorating a gardener is quite meaningful for me.”

'Took him away with them to the ship'

In a biography written in 1888, a century after his death, John Ystumllyn’s story of how he was captured as a child stated: ‘on the banks of a stream amid woodland attempting to catch a moorhen, when white men arrived and caught him and took him away with them to the ship’.

John was the generic name given to male servants. John Ystumllyn, also known as or 'Jac Du' meaning Black Jack in Welsh, later married a Welsh maid working on the Ystumlln estate named Margaret Gruffydd, in what is believed to be Wales’ first interracial marriage.

He had seven children with Margaret. He died in 1786 in his forties and is buried in Ynyscynhaearn churchyard.

His image was captured in an oil painting on wood in a portrait dated 11 May 1754. The rose is believed to be the first to be named after a person of colour in the UK.

Zehra Zaidi, the founder of We Too Built Britain, which campaigns to raise awareness about the work of under-represented groups, approached the Chelsea flower show winner Harkness Roses with the idea to create the rose, in light of the Black Lives Matters protests.

The rose has been on display at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and the Queen has also planted a rose in the gardens of Buckingham Palace in honour of John Ystumllyn.

In a statement, the Queen said: “I am pleased that the John Ystumllyn rose is being planted in the Buckingham Palace gardens.

“The rose has been bred as a mark of friendship and community, and I hope guests and visitors to the garden will have the opportunity to reflect on what this rose represents for many years to come.”

Care home: 'Our residents are diverse, our staff are diverse'

Bodlondeb (Pendine Park) and three other care homes are surrounded by 11 acres of land planted with thousands of flowers that are tended by Mr Jones and his six-strong team of staff.

Bodlondeb (Pendine Park) care home manager Ann Chapman said: “The bed of roses to honour John Ystumllyn is absolutely stunning.

“This rose is perfect for us because our residents are diverse, our staff are diverse, and really, it’s absolutely just perfect. It depicts who we are and it’s so pretty – absolutely fabulous.

“The garden gets so many compliments from the people who come here. You could open up this garden to the public and people would come flocking here.”

Care home gardener Andrew Jones added: “It creates a lovely atmosphere for the residents, the families and the staff – it’s for everybody.”

click here for more details or to contact Pendine Park Care Organisation Ltd