Cesar Picton (c.1755-1838):
All Saints Church, The Market Place, Kingston upon Thames KT1
High on the wall of All Saints Church in the centre of Kingston upon Thames is a small plaque, which simply reads: “C.P. 1838”. Cesar Picton’s minimal memorial was stipulated in his will, and is the final, quiet mark of an extraordinary life.
Born in Senegal, he was enslaved as a child, bought by Captain Parr, an English army officer working in Senegal, and presented to Sir John Phillips as a gift, along with “a parakeet and a foreign duck”. He was quickly baptised and dressed luxuriously as an exotic page boy – his velvet turban alone was recorded as costing ten shillings and sixpence. Well-educated, he quickly became part of the fabric of the Phillips family. Using a legacy of £100 left to him when Lady Phillips died in 1788, Cesar Picton set up a business as a coal merchant in Kingston – the name Picton came from Picton Castle in Pembrokeshire, where the Phillips had extensive coal mining interests and where Cesar lived for a while.
He soon became a very wealthy man, buying properties in Kingston, before retiring to a large property in nearby Thames Ditton. His will has survived, documenting is considerable wealth. He clearly enjoyed the proceeds of his wealth, and when he was buried at All Saints, the casket required ten bearers. He was buried under the aisle of the church with just a few mourners at his request, and until the recent refurbishment of the church, that is where his memorial had laid.
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