Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has revealed that his ancestors owned enslaved people on plantations in Jamaica and received compensation from the British government when slavery was abolished.
Mr Welby revealed his connection to his ancestry in a personal statement reiterating his commitment to tackling the enduring and harmful legacy of transatlantic slavery.
The archbishop, leader of the global Church of England, said his late father, Sir Anthony Montagu Brown, who was Winston Churchill's private secretary, had “ancestral ties to the enslavement of the people of Jamaica and Tobago.” He said he recently discovered. .
In 2016, Ms Welby learned that she was pregnant as a result of a brief affair between her mother and Brown, and that Gavin Welby, whom she married shortly afterwards, was not her biological father. Justin Welby had no relationship with Brown, who died in 2013.
According to the archbishop's statement, Brown was the great-grandson of Sir James Ferguson, 4th Baron of Kilkerran and owner of the enslaved people at Roselle Plantation in St. Thomas.
Ferguson, who died in 1838, Received part of £20m compensation package Reparations from the British government for loss of “property” after the abolition of slavery.
The British Heritage of Slavery Research Center is located on Roselle Farm. Approximately 200 slaves are engaged in the work. At their peak, the Ferguson family shared a fee of £3,591 in 1836, which is estimated to be more than £3 million today.
Welby received no money from Brown during his death and received nothing from his estate after his death.
The archbishop has been at the forefront of efforts to publicly acknowledge that the Church of England (C of E) has historically benefited from transatlantic slavery.
In a report published last year, the church traced its £9 billion endowment fund in part to the Queen Anne Bounty Scheme, established in 1704 based on transatlantic chattel slavery. .
Mr Welby said at the time: Now is the time to take action to address our shameful past. ”
The church has pledged to donate £100 million to address the legacy of slavery. It has since announced that it aims to increase this to £1bn with contributions from co-investors. Reports from monitoring groupsChaired by Bishop Rosemary Mallet, she said the amount originally promised was not enough.
In a statement on Tuesday, the archbishop said: “We recognize that archives have much more to tell us, often in very personal ways, about what happened before us. , reiterated C of E's commitment to a thorough and accurate research program.
“Sadly, I only found out about my relationship with Sir Anthony in 2016, three years after his death, but I was really happy to meet my half-sister and her son.”
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The truth about his biological father was revealed after Welby underwent a DNA test that showed there was a 99.98% chance that he was Brown's son. His mother Jane, who died last year, said the revelation was “almost unbelievably shocking”.
Sir Adam Ferguson, 10th Baronet, spoke on behalf of the Ferguson family, saying their “involvement in slavery is part of our horrific past”. He said: “The archbishop's family connections are a surprise to all of us. The fact that five or six generations later so many people, known and unknown, will be associated with this terrible stage of history. It's a heartening feeling.”
Alex Renton, another descendant of Ferguson; Blood Legacy – Reflecting on a family’s story of slaverysaid that since learning of his family's history, he and other relatives have personally donated to repair efforts in the UK and the Caribbean.
Renton is also a member of the Slavery Foundation, which works to “encourage other families who grew wealthy from the wealth of slavery to acknowledge their history, apologize, and support reparations movements in Europe and the Caribbean.” He also helped establish the Heirs group.
In his statement, Welby mentioned his trip to Jamaica in July. awarded an honorary degree He earned a doctorate from the University of the West Indies and apologized to Jamaicans for the church's role in the enslavement of his ancestors.
he was Quoted in Jamaica Observer “I cannot speak for the British government, but I can speak from my heart and represent what we are saying in the UK right now. We are deeply, deeply, deeply sorry. We are deeply, deeply, deeply sorry. I have sinned against your ancestors, and I would give anything to reverse it, but it is impossible.”
The news about Welby's ancestry comes as pressure mounts on Keir Starmer, who is in Samoa this week to attend a federal government summit, to tackle reparations justice. The British government has denied issuing an apology at the summit, leading to speculation as to whether reparations will be on the agenda.
