Benedict Cumberbatch might have to pay reparations for family's link to slave trade

The family of famous actor Benedict Cumberbatch may face legal action for their links to the slave trade in Barbados. The Caribbean nation has been seeking reparation from the families of slave owners, and Cumberbatch's family could face litigation.

"This is at the earliest stages. We are just beginning. A lot of this history is only really now coming to light," said David Commission, the deputy chairman of the island's national commission on reparations.

The Oscar-nominated actor's seventh great-grandfather used to own the Cleland plantation in the north of the island since 1728. The plantation was home to 250 slaves until the abolition of slavery in 1833.

A report in The Telegraph said that the plantation managed to make a small fortune for the Cumberbatch family.

An estimated 2.3 million Africans were transported to British colonies to work as slaves between 1640 and 1807. Millions perished in the process.

Britain abolished slavery in all its territories only in 1833 after the passage of the Abolition of Slavery Act. The British government had then paid £20 million to 44,441 slave owners for their lost "property." The sum had been equivalent to 40 percent of the national budget then.

Cumberbatch's ancestors were paid thousands of pounds in compensation, an amount which now stands at around £1 million. Others who received compensation included ancestors of novelists George Orwell and Graham Greene, and the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott.

Cumberbatch is the son of actress Wanda Ventham who had reportedly asked her son not to use his real name in his acting career in the fear that her son might face claims for reparations in future.

The actor had even portrayed the role of a plantation owner in the Oscar-winning 2013 movie "12 Years A Slave."

The movie depicts the heart-breaking story of Solomon Northup, a black born-free carpenter and musician, who was living peacefully in New York. He was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the deep south.