With the matter of reparations for European slavery very much in the spotlight here and in the Caribbean community, the family of one of Britain’s most famous prime ministers is set to travel to Guyana this week to apologise for their ancestor’s historical role in slavery.
In a release yesterday, the University of Guyana (UG) announced that the family of plantation owner John Gladstone will be visiting the university to take part in the launching of its International Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies in collaboration with the National Reparations Committee and Heirs of Slavery. This event is due to take place on Friday morning, August 25, in the George Walcott Lecture Theatre of its Turkeyen Campus, in Georgetown, from 8:30 hrs. to 11:00 hrs. Gladstone’s son, William Gladstone was a Prime Minister of England.
It was explained that the Diaspora and Migration Centre was set up to pursue five specific areas of research interest including, but not limited to Diaspora and Migration in and around Academia, Youth, Technology and Vulnerable Communities, Indigeneity, Indentureship and Slavery as specific and integral aspects of dispersion.
It added that the research track for slavery and indentureship is the reason why it was deemed appropriate to launch the Diaspora and Migration Centre (MiDias) in this “historically auspicious month” with regard to the emancipation of enslaved peoples as well as the 200th anniversary of the 1823 Slave Revolution in Demerara.
The university disclosed that it has been collaborating for several years with several other universities as well as the Guyana Reparations Committee on specific aspects of the impacts of the plantations’ enterprise of slavery and indentureship as well as indigeneity on native populations, including relations being experienced today.
According to the release, UG and the Guyana Reparations Committee have invited members of the Gladstone family, part of an heir of slavery grouping to participate in the event since Quamina and his son John, who led the 1823 Rebellions were enslaved on Gladstone Plantations. The UK Guardian reported in an article yesterday that six of Gladstone’s descendants will arrive in Guyana on Thursday and will also take part in the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of a rebellion by enslaved people that historians say paved the way for abolition. The Gladstones, it added, have also confirmed that they will in fact offer an apology given the role their ancestors would have played here. Further, as well as making an official apology for John Gladstone’s ownership of Africans, the 21st-century Gladstones have agreed to pay reparations to fund further research into the impact of slavery.
John Gladstone, the article noted, was the fifth-largest beneficiary of the £20m fund (about £16bn today) set aside by the British government to compensate planters when the Slavery Abolition Act was passed in 1833. He owned or held mortgages over 2,508 enslaved Africans in Guyana and Jamaica and after emancipation, he was paid nearly £106,000, a huge sum at the time.
The education and career of his son, William Gladstone, the 19th-century politician known for his liberal and reforming governments, were funded by enslaved Africans working on his father’s sugar plantations in the Caribbean. Early in his career, William spoke in parliament in defence of his father’s involvement in slavery and also helped calculate the amount of compensation his father would receive.
The Demerara rebellion in August 1823 (to be commemorated at UG) began on one of his plantations. It was led by Jack Gladstone, an enslaved man forced to take his owner’s name, and his father, Quamina, who had been transported from Africa as a child.
According to the Guardian, Charlie Gladstone, 59, who lives in Hawarden Castle, the north Wales home of his great-great grandfather William, said: “John Gladstone committed crimes against humanity. That is absolutely clear. The best that we can do is try to make the world a better place and one of the first things is to make that apology for him.
“He was a vile man. He was greedy and domineering. We have no excuses for him. But it’s fairly clear to me that however you address it, a lot of my family’s privilege has stemmed from John Gladstone.”
The Gladstone family plans to apologise at the launch of the University of Guyana’s International Institute for Migration and Diaspora Studies, which they are helping to fund with a grant of £100,000.
Meanwhile, the article reported, Eric Phillips, chair of the Guyana reparations committee and vice-chair of the Caricom Reparations Commission, said he was very happy that the Gladstones were visiting to apologise: “It is an example to others and means a great deal on the anniversary of such an important event.
“Because Britain was so central to life in the Caribbean, it has a premier role to play in terms of reconciliation and acknowledgement. The British prime minister’s indifference is quite a worry, especially given what the Heirs of Slavery are doing.”
The UG release noted also that the location of the ceremony and other historic events to be held on the UG campus are on lands that were once plantations upon which part of the revolutions were enacted.
After the formal ceremony, there will be an inter-generational dialogue between UG students and youthful members of the Gladstone family; a linking of the University of Guyana Library with digital archives of the Council of World Missions and an exhibition of scholarly work throughout the day on the subject matter, the release added.
The public is invited to attend virtually or in person. Those interested in virtual registration are asked to login at
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ob0sefwYTY-YVypQZPTePA#/registration
