(AFP) — Caribbean nations seeking reparations for the legacy of slavery have found surprising allies in the descendants of prominent British families who profited from the slave trade.
Families like the Gladstones, Lascelles, and Trevelyans were influential figures in British governance for years.
They amassed considerable wealth through the ownership of plantations in the West Indies and South America.
Laura Trevelyan, who used to work as a journalist for the BBC, mentioned to AFP that she did not know about her family’s connections until she came across an archive detailing compensation payments to plantation owners following the British parliament’s abolition of slavery in 1833.
“I was completely unaware,” she said.
“Upon reviewing the database, I discovered that members of the Trevelyan family had claimed compensation related to a small island in the eastern Caribbean called Grenada, where they referred to their slaves as ‘property.’”
This revelation prompted Trevelyan to apologize publicly in Grenada in 2023 and to co-found the Heirs of Slavery group, which advocates for what they call “reparative justice.”
Alongside her family members, she has voluntarily contributed around £100,000 ($133,000) for educational projects in this context.
“Everyone I met, I asked them whether I should apologize for what my ancestors did and if I should personally pay reparations. The answer was always a loud ‘yes,’” she shared.
Co-founder Charlie Gladstone, who is a descendant of the reformist 19th-century prime minister William Gladstone, whose father John was a significant slave owner in the British West Indies, also issued a public apology in Guyana in 2023.
An additional member of the group, David Lascelles, the Earl of Harewood, has ancestral ties to the British royal family.
A portrait of actor David Harewood can be found at Harewood House, the family estate in northern England, after it was revealed that his ancestors had been laborers on the Lascelles family’s sugar plantations in Barbados.
In September, the UK government reaffirmed its stance against reparations for slavery.
While modern British royals have expressed regret, they, like the government, have yet to offer an official apology.
This issue may resurface during King Charles III’s forthcoming Caribbean tour, which kicks off Tuesday in the Bahamas, followed by visits to Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda, where he will address the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace indicated that during the trip, the king would talk about the “darkest days” of colonialism and slavery.
Preceding the visit, Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali emphasized that his nation will continue advocating for reparations, stating that slavery represented humanity’s greatest humiliation.
He called for a “mature” conversation regarding apologies and reparations, highlighting potential solutions like debt relief, funding for education and healthcare, and even assistance for climate adaptation.
The Reparations Commission of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) is pushing for “monetary compensation,” in conjunction with debt cancellation and a formal apology, as part of its “Ten-Point plan.”
Next year, Britain’s Privy Council, the final court of appeal for UK territories overseas, will deliberate on a petition filed by Jamaica regarding slavery reparations.
This petition questions whether the capture, transport, and enslavement of Africans in Jamaica were legal under English law and whether the UK owes Jamaicans a “reparatory remedy.”
However, not all families that profited from slavery support the approach of the Heirs group.
Hilary Beckles, chair of the Caricom Reparations Commission, has regularly criticized Richard Drax, a former member of the Conservative Party and UK landowner whose forebears established Drax Hall Estate in Barbados during the mid-17th century.
Beckles estimates that around 30,000 slaves died on Drax’s plantations over 200 years.
Drax has strongly opposed reparations, arguing that while the actions of his ancestors in the slave trade were “deeply regrettable,” nobody today can be held accountable for events that occurred centuries ago.
Interestingly, the Drax family is noted for still owning a plantation that was established from the outset, as Paul Lashmar, author of “Drax of Drax Hall: How One British Family Got Rich (and Stayed Rich) from Sugar and Slavery,” points out.
Yet, he suggests that it’s becoming increasingly challenging for Drax’s perspective to prevail.
“If you are very wealthy and a significant part of that wealth derives from those times, it’s not an easy thing to distance yourself from,” he noted.
