The BelleDido Elizabeth Belle (1761 July 1804) was a British heiress and a member of the Lindsay family of Evelix. She was born into slavery; her mother, Maria Belle, was an enslaved African from the British West Indies. Her father was Sir John Lindsay, a British career naval officer who was stationed there. Her father was knighted and promoted to admiral. Lindsay took Belle with him when he returned to England in 1765, entrusting her upbringing to his uncle