Slavery reparations backed by UK slave-owner heirs

Descendants of some prominent British families that benefited from slavery are backing Caribbean demands for reparations, even as the UK government continues to reject calls for compensation.

Laura Trevelyan, a former BBC journalist, told AFP she discovered her family's links to slavery through records of compensation paid to plantation owners after the British parliament abolished slavery in 1833. She later made a public apology in Grenada in 2023 and co-founded the Heirs of Slavery group, which supports what it calls “reparative justice.”

Trevelyan said members of her family had paid voluntary personal reparations of about £100,000, or $133,000, for educational projects. Charlie Gladstone, a direct descendant of 19th-century prime minister William Gladstone, also made a public apology in Guyana in 2023. William Gladstone's father, John, was one of the largest slave owners in the British West Indies.

Another member of the group is David Lascelles, the Earl of Harewood, whose family has close links to the royal family. The Gladstone, Lascelles and Trevelyan families accumulated wealth through plantations in the West Indies and South America.

The issue is expected to be raised during King Charles III's Caribbean tour, which begins Tuesday and includes the Bahamas, Guyana and Antigua and Barbuda, where he will address the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said the king would acknowledge the “darkest days” of colonial rule and slavery during the trip.

Guyana's President Irfaan Ali said his country would continue to champion reparations and called for a mature discussion on an apology and measures including debt relief, education and healthcare financing and climate adaptation. The Caribbean Community's Reparations Commission has called for monetary compensation, debt cancellation and a full apology as part of a 10-point plan.

Britain's Privy Council, the final court of appeal for UK overseas territories, is due next year to hear a Jamaican petition asking whether the capture, transport and enslavement of Africans in Jamaica was ever legal under English law and whether the UK owes Jamaicans a reparatory remedy.

Not all descendants of families that benefited from slavery support reparations. Richard Drax, a former Conservative lawmaker and UK landowner whose ancestors established Drax Hall Estate in Barbados in the mid-17th century, has opposed reparations while describing his ancestors' role in the slave trade as “deeply, deeply regrettable.”