Returning to Holnicote: Helping the NT explore ‘brown babies’ history

The National Trust’s Podcast episode on Holnicote House, made with support from The Mixed Museum’s Director, Dr Chamion Caballero and Professor Lucy Bland from Anglia Ruskin University, is now available to listen to via the NT website and audio platforms such as Spotify.

Holnicote House, once owned by the National Trust, has an important wartime history as the home to dozens of Britain’s so-called ‘brown babies’ – the children born to Black American GIs and white British women. In this Series Eight episode of the National Trust’s Podcast, Ann Evans and Carol Edwards, two former residents, show historian David Olusoga around the home, and Lucy and Chamion explain its extraordinary history and TMM’s ongoing work with the ‘brown babies’ community.

Carol Edwards, David Olusoga and Ann Evans in conversation in the garden of Holnicote House
Carol Edwards, David Olusoga and Ann Evans in conversation in the garden of Holnicote House, July 2024. Image: National Trust Images/James Beck

Revisiting Childhood Memories: Ann and Carol’s Story

The historian David Olusoga is being shown around a home in Somerset by two women who used to live here, and they’re in the ‘potty room’, reminiscing.

“You’d take the pots out of there, and we’d all line up there, bums on pots. And then Leon would be the leader, and we’d all play trains,” remembers Ann Evans, as her friend Carol Edwards laughs in agreement.

Ann and Carol are part of a generation of so-called ‘brown babies’ – mixed race people born during World War Two to Black American GIs stationed in the UK and local women. 

Along with up to 30 other ‘brown babies’, they grew up here, in Holnicote House in Somerset, and they’re back to tell its story as a post-war residential nursery for the National Trust Podcast. 

Five mixed race girls playing in a toy kitchen in the 1940s at Holnicote House
Carol (third from left) and Ann (first on right) playing with other girls at Holnicote House.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST EPISODE:

National Trust website

Spotify

Apple

Britain's 'Brown Babies'

Professor Lucy Bland brought the history of the house into the public consciousness with her book Britain’s Brown Babies: the stories of children born to Black GIs and white British women during the Second World War. Once owned by the National Trust - it is now a private hotel specialising in walking holidays - it still sits on the Trust's Holnicote Estate. The house, its land and its 'brown babies' history were the inspiration for E.L. Norry's recent children's novel, Fablehouse.

Professor Bland tells Olusoga: “Holnicote House is this absolutely beautiful house in Somerset, and in 1942 it was requisitioned by Somerset County Council for evacuees, and then they start filling it with children who are being born locally to Black GIs.”

While many ‘brown babies’ had difficult experiences in children’s homes after being removed from their families, Holnicote House is remembered with huge affection by those who lived there up to the age of five. 

“I feel a lot of emotion coming back to my beginnings,” says Carol. “This is my third visit to the place in 70 odd years and it just brings back so many happy memories. There’s no place like home.”

Gallery images: Holnicote House and the surrounding Holnicote Estate. Images: National Trust Imags / James Beck, and The Mixed Museum.

The Power of Sharing Stories: How ‘Brown Babies’ are Reclaiming Their History

Dr Chamion Caballero, Director of The Mixed Museum, brings the history up to date, telling the programme how a collaborative new project is helping people like Carol and Ann talk about their experiences, in some cases for the first time. 

She tells Olusoga that the involvement of the ‘brown babies’’ own children and grandchildren has been key. “They are giving their mothers and fathers the confidence to speak out about subjects that have previously been shrouded in secrecy and shame,” she says.

“They are telling them that it’s okay to talk about this, in fact it’s really important. And by talking about it you open up this history and you help preserve it for other people.”

Joanne and Carol Edwards posing for the camera on a balcony at Friends House
Carol with her daughter Joanne at our 'DNA 'Brown Babies' project' meet up at Friends House, London, July 2024. Image: Susan Alexander Photography.

Learn more

Listen to the podcast episode on the NT website or Spotify

Read our previous blogpost about the making of the podcast

Visit our award-winning exhibition in collaboration with Professor Lucy Bland, Britain’s ‘Brown Babies’ 

Learn about our current collaborative project exploring the role of DNA testing in the lives of Britain’s ‘brown babies’ and their families