Cesar Picton

Plaque on Picton House, Kingston, summarising Picton's life

Cesar Picton (c. 1755 – 1836) was a British merchant of West African descent. Born in West Africa, he was presumably enslaved by the time he was about six years old. He was subsequently brought to England by a British Army officer in 1761 and given as a servant to the Anglo-Welsh politician and lawyer Sir John Philipps, 6th Baronet, mostly living in Norbiton near Kingston upon Thames in Surrey. Picton eventually left the Philipps' family service and became a wealthy coal merchant in Kingston.