Dear Editor,
As the Government and People of Guyana mark the 200th milestone of the Demerara 1823 Slave rebellion we commiserate with you.
Even as we look back at the ill-fated day, with revulsion and horror, cognizant that had the Demerara Estate Owners obeyed the Scottish Court ruling and the British Lord Mansfield ruling of the 1780’S, the tragic loss of lives would have been avoided. Importantly, buoyed by that example of bravery and determination to bring an end to slavery, Jamaican liberator and national hero, Samuel Sharpe, organized and executed the final slave rebellion thus enabling the end of slavery in 1833.
Notably, John Gladstone, 7th generation since 1833, has responded to the United Nations’ African Slave Trade Quantification Report. Guyana’s Deme-rara Estate, together with Jamaica’s Holland and Lacovia Estates in St Elizabeth enabled John Gladstone to be the 5th largest recipient of the 20 million pounds paid to the Sugar Mills owners.
Sincerely,
David Crossbourne