Why Britain must finally face up to a shameful history

The featured image is from this piece in the Guardian.

In many ways, it reminded me of my book of the year for 2022.

Thomas Harding embarked on a historical detective story that is both highly personal and politically relevant today.

On one side of his family, there were plantation owners in the Americas who benefited financially from slave labour.

On his fathers’ side, he is Jewish. Members of his family either died in the Holocaust or had to leave Germany and lost their property.

Because of this, Harding received a sum of money from the German government in restitution.

This caused him to look at the legacy of the other side of his family.

“If I was willing to identify as a victim in my father’s family, to receive reparations from the German government, then surely I had better understand Britain’s role in slavery”.

All writing starts with an impulse and that is what probably pushed Harding to write White Debt.

The reader is left in no doubt that much of Britain’s greatness is owes to the exploitation of enslaved people.

The thing most Brits know about the transatlantic slave trade is that because of the advocacy of William Wilberforce, the British Parliament passed a law (Slave Trade Act)  banning the infamous Middle Passage in the Atlantic Triangle in 1807.

What most of the inhabitants of Brexit Island do not know is that the buying and selling of enslaved people between British colonies were still permitted.

Harding’s book deals with the slave uprising in Demerara (now part of Guyana)in South America.

Demerara was a British territory covered in sugar plantations that made their owners massively rich on the backs of unpaid works who often perished under brutal working conditions.

Harding’s book deals with the slave uprising in that place in 1823.

Someone, somewhere in the world of film, needs to get a hold of Harding’s book because, within the pages, he brings to us a genuine hero called Jack Gladstone.

There is another Gladstone in Harding’s book, John Gladstone.

He is the father of the famous British Prime Minister and was the largest slave owner in the colony.

Unsurprisingly, he was a committed anti-abolitionist.

He made a fortune from the unpaid labour of his slaves and this allowed him to send his sons to Eton.

As I said, it is impossible to analyse the British elite and not look at the vast sums looted from the Empire, often through genocidal crimes.

The Slavery Abolition Act finally came a decade after the Demerara uprising.

The owners of human beings were compensated for the loss of their “property”, and the government paid them £20m.

This vast sum amounted to 40% of the Treasury’s annual income.

The loan was finally paid off in 2015.

One of those compensated for the loss of their slaves was the Trevelyan family, who received £26,898.

Now New York-based BBC correspondent Laura Trevelyan, as per the Guardian article, has donated £100,000 to a foundation set up for the people of Grenada, where her family had slave plantations.

He has, along with many members of her extended family signed a letter of apology.

Of course, the name Trevelyan will need no introduction to readers in Ireland or those in the diaspora.

Sir Charles Edward Trevelyan was the embodiment of Britain’s imperial age.

His role in An Gorta Mór is well known, and he is mentioned in the lyrics of the ballad The fields of Athenry.

There is no one alive today called Trevelyan who carries any responsibility for what he did.

Thomas Harding addresses the subject of ancestral guilt handed down to descendants today.

He makes the point that no one can be held accountable for the behaviour of those who went before them.

However, he states that we are all responsible for our silence, especially if we know what our ancestors did.

The Trevelyan family have decided to very publicly end their silence about what happened in the Caribbean centuries ago, and fair play to them.

When the Trevelyans were amassing fortunes from slave-grown sugar, Britain was a global superpower.

Britannia ruled the waves so Britannia could waive the rules.

Anyone who thinks that Brexit Island is still in that league in 2023 has probably been at the Deludamol.

They might even attend the place where they think that An Gorta Mór was a hoot.

The self-harming 2016 leave vote was, in part, about harking back to the golden age of British unipolarity, Empire 2.0 and all that.

If the British people had been exposed to a self-reflective, evidence-based narrative of what happened in the colonial era, then their EU membership might have been viewed differently.

At some point, Britain, the state and its people will need to have a conversation about finally saying sorry to Ireland.

That moment of genuine contrition still seems a long way off.

Once Britain became a powerful state, we in Ireland were the first to suffer from their “greatness”.

Indeed, in many ways, we were a proving ground for the Modus Operandi of the British Empire.

In the 17th century, Ulster was Scotland’s first colony, and Cromwell’s New Model Army refined the techniques of breaking a civilian population through terror and starvation.

The imperialist marriage of 1707  was soon consummated across the globe.

Then the rest of the world would come to know the true significance of the Union Flag.

Despite the desperate desire of some on Brexit Island to be out on their own, they are conjoined with us in this archipelago.

Moreover, they cannot be separated from what happens on the continent of Europe.

Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine.

One day the Brits might learn what that means.

In the meantime, I reckon that the BBC woman might be up for a Ranganna Gaeilge in the Big Apple.

Laura, there are plenty of us Irish there, and for exactly the same reason that your family made fortunes in the Caribbean.

For the avoidance of doubt, we know that you’re not your ancestors, and you’ll be guaranteed a céad míle fáilte.

18 thoughts on “Why Britain must finally face up to a shameful history”

  1. Hi Phil,
    My name is Paul, from Uddingston, and I’d like to thank you for drawing my attention to a very good article that I hadn’t previously seen,
    In return, I’d like to draw your attention to the very interesting article by Tomiwa Owolade in yesterday’s New Statesman. Mr Owolade’s piece picks up on a number of issues that you yourself have previously discussed in your posts. I’d be interested to hear your view on it.

    https://www.newstatesman.com/comment/2023/02/america-oldest-shame-is-violence-racism-police-poverty

    Reply
  2. I was originally tempted to write about the Romans/Egyptians/ Ottomans/ et al…and also address the curse of modern day slavery…until I remembered.
    This article is about a wealthy and privileged family, who are horrified to discover that their status came from ancestors who used the blood, misery and toil of slaves…to procure vast wealth.
    Suffice to say…they have publicly apologised for these actions and intend to make amends where they can.
    To them I say…Well done….and it’s just a pity there are not lots more like you.

    Reply
  3. While I am neither a racist, or a nationalist, I am most certainly not in the business of apologising for the wrongs of what the British Empire and its citizens did before I was able to vote. The old adage of’ the sins of the Father etc’ come into play here. Of the five generations of my Irish-Scottish family that I have known, I don’t think any of them ever felt the need to say sorry for what their countries did for them or for in fact, what they did for their country. Some of them fought in the 2 world wars of the 20th Century, where they were directly or indirectly involved in the killing of their opponents. They didn’t particularly want to do so, they did however do so, not particularly for their country but basically for their families, communities and in a wider sense for the society of which they were part. They never felt the need to apologise to or receive any apology from those that they fought against.

    What happened in the past should stay there, Good things and bad, The only thing that should be gained from it is to move forward and don’t repeat the wrongs that occurred. What we don’t need is to stoke up old grudges. That is what the academics and apologists are doing in order to make themselves feel better by joining a ’cause’ This in turn only fans the flames of those who feel that what happened to they have suffered an injustice centuries ago and want something to happen about it now. For the life of me, I don’t know of anything that can reach back in time and change a system that had existed for thousands of years and still carries on today.

    Should we not be ashamed that we have our heads up our backsides taking of centuries old injustices instead of focusing our efforts on ending the scourge of modern day Slavery.

    Reply
    • absolutely agree … pointless asking people to apologize for things they had no control over … plenty wrong in current time for anyone looking for a “ cause” yes …make sure that historical events good and bad are accurately and openly available … but apologize for things before our time … not in my name .

      Reply
  4. I find all this stuff about slavery quite strange. African slaves wesold to Europeans by African chiefs who had captured them , normally during conflicts. Before the Europeans, their trade was with middle Eastern & Asian countries. Europeans were also captured and sold as slaves to these Middle Eastern markets. Its strange why you never hear of calls for these countries to pay money to ancestors of slaves.
    The biggest crime about talking about this nonsense is , there are more slaves in the world now than there has ever been. That’s what we should be talking about and taking drastic steps to stop it

    Reply
  5. Have no disagreement with your article but let’s not forget that the first figure of authority to sanction England invading Ireland was the Pope. ( Pope Adrian 1155, Laudabiliter ).

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  6. No everyone who voted brexit is a racist ! But every racist voted for it !! The usual response you get from the average brit when you mention empire is as follows ” sure they never taught that when we were at school ” but on the next breath they express pride of having conquered so much and yes I am a woke fenian remainer 😘

    Reply
  7. I’m no woke either, but even 300yrs ago they had the brains to build ships and travel around the world they must have known it was wrong.
    The British people had no say in this, it was the royals and aristocracy that made the rules and profited from it, they should pay.
    It’s still going on right now under the disguise of the EU freedom of movement, designed by the powerfull countries as a source of cheap labour from the weaker countries to profit the power countries.

    African slave has to work for no pay but gets food and lodge has nothing at the end o fthe week.
    Eu fom worker get low wage ,after paying food and lodge nothing left
    Whats the difference
    300yrs years from now the modern world will look back in horror in the way the EU treated people for its own profit and the benefit of the wealthy , and Britain won’t be able hide either, we benefited from it aswell.

    Reply
  8. I am more concerned about the leniency with which modern day slavery is dealt as in a recent case in the UK 400 people were held in slavery. The perpetrators where handed sentences ranging from 3 to 11 years which in todays legal system would mean the longest sentence being around 4 years. Given the horror the very idea of slavery conjures up, you would think a minimum sentence of 30 years for all those involved could be considered lenient.

    Reply
  9. The Italians must be shitting themselves as the Roman Empire did quite a bit of this stuff, not to mention the Egyptians and just about every tribe since mankind got above a crawl. And for the record I voted to leave because I at least wanted a vote on those who enslave me, not an army of self perpetuating bureaucrats who point blank refused change as it affected their ability to fill their own boots.

    Reply
  10. The South Sea trading company main income was supplying slaves to the Spanish in South America, I’m not sure if Britain as a country should pay compensation, but the aristocratic families they bailed out should, as should the Spanish slave owners and all involved throughout the word.

    Reply
  11. The South Sea trading company main income was supplying slaves to the Spanish in South America, I’m not sure if Britain as a country should pay compensation, but the aristocratic families they bailed out should, as should the Spanish slave owners and all involved throughout the word.

    Reply
  12. I find all this woke nonsense about being offended/responsible for previous historical wrongs (at the time remember they were not crimes) a bit of a smokescreen for the current offenders of the political/billionaire variety. How far back are we allowed to go? Can I make a claim against the Scandinavians for raping and pillaging my ancestors?

    Reply
    • Ebt’s were not a crime when Sir David Murray decided to use them to – ahem – remunerate his staff at Ibrox. They were only ruled “unlawful” in 2017. Are you saying then, that Sevco/Rangers* are “off the hook” historically?

      Reply
      • EBTs were not unlawful if used in accordance with the laws at the time rangers implemented them.

        Using EBTs lawfully would mean that they would be discretionary loans and NOT a pre-agreed, written contractual entitlement based on employment which is how Rangers were using them. So how rangers used them was unlawful (even at that time) as they were not implemented as lawful discretionary loans but were actually disguised remuneration.

        It was only legally proven that they were being used unlawfully in 2017 due to the time taken by the legal process and appeals etc.

        QB

        Reply
    • The Nazi mass murder of the jews and other groups they objected to was carried out by state functionaries and therefore legal under Hitler’s regime. Are you saying we should all be OK with that, because “it was legal at the time”? Is that all just “woke nonsense” too? Do you even understand what “woke” means?

      Reply
    • Did you read the Guardian article?
      If not please do before commenting further.
      If it can be established that someone has or continues to benefit financially from slavery (as outlined in this article) then it seems reasonable to me that victims relatives with a direct link to this should receive some financial compensation.
      I notice you use word woke – this is now a term used to vilify someone who doesn’t agree with you.It always reminds me of people who start a sentence – ‘I m not in favour of (whatever the controversial topic is) but’ and then go onto justify their support for the topic. In other you completely discredit your argument and yourself

      Reply

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