GUYANA | Gladstone Heirs to Apologize for Both Slavery and Indenture at the University of Guyana

GEORGETOWN, Turkeyn, August 24, 2023 - The University of Guyana says the apology it helped to  negotiate with the Gladstone heirs, the family of 19th Century British prime minister William Gladstone, includes slavery and indentureship since the particular ancestor John Gladfstone, was one of the largest slave owners in the British West Indies was integrally involved in both.

In an earlier release the University had indicated that John Gladstone owned plantations and managed several others not owned by him. 

Quamina and his son John, who led the 1823 rebellions, which are being commemorated this month, were enslaved on Gladstone Plantations amongst thousands of others. 

The University itself is founded on plantation lands, upon which part of the revolutions took place.

John Gladstone is also recorded as “ one of the initiators of schemes for the exporting of indentured labor to the Caribbean” (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/8961).   

John Gladstone who died in 1851, might have owned the Whitby and Hesperus, the ships which transported the first East Indian Indentured to Guyana.

The Gladstone family, which includes several historians will in fact offer an apology given the role their ancestors would have played here.

The University reasserts that no financial negotiations of any kind regarding reparations were discussed or agreed upon with the Gladstone heirs. Reparation payments are not within the purview of the University and  therefore cannot be part of any conversations between the national academic institution and the Gladstones.  

It is unclear whether an amount of 100,000 pounds  accepted by the Government of Grenada from the Trevelyan Family might have become infused  into a story about Guyana which was carried by international news since the University was not the source of the international news stories.  

The Gladstone family who are arriving upon the invitation of the University of Guyana have for decades been supporting educational, historical and cultural projects  through grants which are divorced from reparations  which have benefitted other Universities  given the important role of Universities in the illumination and removal of systems of oppression.

The University of Guyana in a statement today, says it wishes to assure the public that as the national University, it continues to be focused upon positive and respectful projects based on evidence, historical fact,  fairness and  respect for  all our peoples. 

The University says it looks forward to this moment as one of national recognition of the origins of our national trauma as well as our resilience, and to  contribute to processes  of personal and national healing, introspection and unity.  

The Gladstone family apology is noted as an important first step in the process of  reparation, official acceptance of historical  culpabilities and the dismantling of systems which perpetuate these legacies today.

The public is invited to attend virtually or in person.  For Virtual registration please use this: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ob0sefwYTY-YVypQZPTePA#/registration

The Diaspora and Migration Centre is set up to pursue five (5) 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. 

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 in regard to the emancipation of enslaved peoples as well as the 200th anniversary of the 1823 Slave Revolution in Demerara.

Sir John Gladstone was a Scottish merchant who grew wealthy as a Demerara sugar-planter; he owned hundreds of slaves on his plantations in the lead-up to emancipation. ‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​

The 1823 revolt in the British colony of Demerara, which subsequently integrated into Guyana, originated on one of Gladstone’s properties. ‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​

Several historians argue that the uprising’s violent quelling hastened the end of slavery. ‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​

After slavery was abolished in 1833, John received the most significant compensation from the Slave Compensation Commission, totalling approximately £93,000 — today’s equivalent of about £10 million. ‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​

In 1831, during his first speech in the Commons, William Gladstone championed compensation for slaveholders. ‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​Yet, by 1850, his kin saw him as a reformed man. The former leader eventually labelled slavery as “undeniably the most heinous crime in human history.” ‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​

Charlie Gladstone, whose family's ancestral home is Hawarden estate in north Wales, is due to travel to Guyana, on Thursday, with five other family members to make an apology for John's ownership of Africans.

Joining Charlie on this trip will be his wife Caroline, son Felix, daughter Xanthe, brother Rob, and nephew Will Merison. ‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​

During the launch of the University of Guyana’s International Institute for Migration and Diaspora Studies, the family will extend their formal apology. ‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌​

After the formal ceremony, the moment will be marked by an inter-generational dialogue between University of Guyana 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 by University of Guyana scholars  throughout the day on the subject matter.

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