With the matter of reparations for European slavery very much in the spotlight in the Caribbean community, the family of one of Britain’s most famous prime ministers is set to travel to Guyana this week to apologize for their ancestor’s historical role in slavery, Stabroek News reported Sunday.
In a press release on Saturday, Aug. 19, the University of Guyana (UG) announced that the family of plantation owner John Gladstone will be visiting the university to take part in the launching of its International Centre for Migration and Diaspora Studies in collaboration with the National Reparations Committee and Heirs of Slavery.
This event is due to take place on Friday morning, Aug. 25, in the George Walcott Lecture Theatre of its Turkeyen Campus, in Georgetown. Gladstone’s son, William Gladstone, was a Prime Minister of England.
“The Gladstone family, which includes several historians, have today confirmed that they will in fact offer an apology, given the role their ancestors had played here,” the UG statement said.
A report in The Jamaica on Sunday noted that John Gladstone, the father of four-time British Prime Minister William Gladstone, “owned 2,500 slaves and according to the UK Guardian, was the fifth-largest beneficiary of the £20 million fund (about £16 billion today) set aside by the British government to compensate planters when the Slavery Abolition Act was passed in 1833.”
