By Shirley Farmer 
The Barbados government set up a commission to repair damages caused by families who owned plantations and slaves, and the Cumberbatch family, who owned the Cleland plantation and enslaved 250 people, is one of the targets.
Benedict Cumberbatch has spoken many times about the past and lamented the fact that his ancestors had connections with the slave trade. But now, more than a whimper, the famous actor’s family’s misdeeds could come at a price, as the Barbados government wants to compensate families who might benefit from slavery.
In 1728, Joshua Cumberbatch, one of Benedict’s ancestors, bought the Cleland sugar plantation in the north of the island, where he kept 250 slaves and would have made a “small fortune” for the actor’s family, as explained by The Telegraph. Later, when slavery was abolished, Cumberbatch still received thousands of pounds in compensation. Now, the actor may have to pay compensation, a decision made by the government of Barbados which, in recent months, has set up a commission to repair damages caused by plantation and slave-owning families.
“All descendants of white plantation owners who profited from the slave trade must pay compensation, including the Cumberbatch family. This is still in the early stages. We’re just getting started. A lot of this story is just beginning to unfold,” David said. , Secretary General of the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration, guarantees that the money received will be used to “convert local clinics into hospitals, support schools, and improve the country’s infrastructure and housing.”
Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays “Doctor Strange” in the Marvel movies — and most recently played a plantation owner in “12 Years a Slave” and former British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger in “Amazing Grace,” and the production focused on the abolition of slavery in the United Kingdom — even, The Guardian confirmed, the mother advised her not to use the surname due to the ancestral connection to slavery. However, Cumberbatch is not the only one targeted in this process, and the same source is included. British MP Richard Drax, who inherited the largest cane plantation in the territory, is facing complaints from the island to return the property and pay the damages it caused, which Drax refused.