To my distant cousin Justin Welby: our family’s slavery history is truly awful. Let’s be open about it | Alex Renton
The archbishop has admitted his connections, but must go further. Backing the campaign for reparations would be a start
- Alex Renton is author of Blood Legacy: Reckoning with a Family’s Story of Slavery
I don’t know my newfound cousin Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury. We’re not close, in any sense. But we do have a mutual great-great-great-grandfather: Sir James Fergusson of Kilkerran, who died in 1838. He is five generations back on Welby’s side, six on mine. It is not as wildly unlikely as you may think – at six removes we all have 128 grandparents. But this particular historical figure is significant because of what he and tens of thousands of British people like him did – the fallout of which is still dividing and toxifying society today.
Welby’s statement confessing Fergusson’s slave-owning past shows he may not know much about our shared forefathers. So here is some detail. Fergusson and the generation before him were owners of enslaved Black people in Jamaica and, for a while, Tobago. There were 160 to 200 people at any one time at the Jamaican sugar plantation Rozelle, with 75 at Bloody Bay in Tobago.
Continue reading...Date: |
-
Business - MarketWatch
‘This was a money grab’: My uncle took over the family business — and left my father out in the cold. Can I claim our inheritance?
3 days ago -
Business - Financial Times
David Olusoga: ‘My loyalty is to history’
4 days ago -
World - The Guardian
The history of Caribbean slavery is being lost. Britain must act now to preserve it | Laura Trevelyan and Nicole Phillip
4 days ago -
Top stories - BBC News
Widow accuses health board of 'letting families down' over deaths
Yesterday -
World - The Guardian
The ride of our lives: why the horse is crucial to human history
2 days ago -
World - The Guardian
Tapas not tantrums: we put food at the centre of our Barcelona family holiday
2 days ago -
Sports - Yahoo Sports
Live updates: LeBron, Bronny make history in Lakers opener
11 hours ago - NBA -
World - The Guardian
James and Son: LeBron and Bronny make history as they play together in Lakers opener
5 hours ago - NBA
More from The Guardian
-
World - The Guardian
Gisèle Pelicot: victim at centre of mass rape trial to take the stand – live
6 minutes ago -
World - The Guardian
Middle East crisis live: Israel launches airstrikes on Lebanese city of Tyre; Blinken to visit UK
7 minutes ago - Israel -
World - The Guardian
Starmer insists he can have a ‘good relationship’ with Trump despite election ‘interference’ claim
4 hours ago - Donald Trump -
World - The Guardian
China cracks down on ‘uncivilised’ online puns used to discuss sensitive topics
3 hours ago - China -
World - The Guardian
Gunmen kill seven with more than a dozen missing after Papua New Guinea bus shooting
4 hours ago
Latest in World
-
World - ABC News
French maritime authorities report 2 migrant deaths in English Channel
5 minutes ago - France -
World - ABC News
Lawmakers: South Korea’s spy chief says North Korea has sent another 1,500 troops to Russia
6 minutes ago - North Korea -
World - ABC News
Financial cooperation and BRICS expansion are on the table as Putin hosts Global South leaders
6 minutes ago -
World - The Guardian
Gisèle Pelicot: victim at centre of mass rape trial to take the stand – live
6 minutes ago -
World - ABC News
Pakistani court grants bail to the wife of imprisoned ex-Premier Khan
6 minutes ago - Pakistan