The descendants of a British family that hadowned, demeaned, and brutalized hundreds of enslaved plantation workers in the Caribbean Community headquarter nation of Guyana centuries ago, are headed to the country this week to formally apologize for the sins of their foreparents and pay an undisclosed sum in reparations to fund research into the impact of slavery, the University of Guyana has said in a statement.
Planter John Gladstone, described by today’s generation of Gladstone descendants as a vile and greedy man, had owned more than 2,500 slaves in Jamaica and Guyana and was considered one of the most brutal plantation owners in the Caribbean. He owned several coffee, sugar, and other estates along Guyana’s east coast and in the western Essequibo Region in the early to mid-1800s. Profits from unpaid slave labor have been primarily attributed to the vast wealth of Scottish-born Gladstone, whose son became a four-time British prime minister in the colonial era.
Either affected by the mounting pressure from Caribbean governments for former European slave trading nations to pay reparations for this genocide, or simply by their consciences, the current generation of Gladstones has said the time has come to apologize for the wickedness of their foreparents and to be part of any movement that could repair the situation and lead to amelioration.
“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 university said in a weekend statement, unveiling its plans to engage with the family this week.
The Guyana apology will be the latest in a string of significant similar attempts at remorse in the past year, starting with the one in late December of 2022 by outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte for the role the Netherlands played in Suriname and other Dutch linkages in the Caribbean. Rutte also committed the Netherlands to future talks about slavery and reparations while offering $200 million to help with research about the lasting impacts of slavery. Several Dutch cities and a few western universities have also apologized for their roles in slavery.
About two months later, another United Kingdom family—the Trevelyans—traveled to Grenada to apologize for their ancestors owning more than 1,000 slaves and six plantations in the Eastern Caribbean island, which the U.S. had invaded in 1983 after the government had collapsed owing to an internal rebellion, among other factors. More than 40 of today’s Trevelyan family members have also signed a letter of apology for the atrocities of their foreparents. Former BBC journalist Laura Trevelyan, who made the trip to Grenada, is also slated to be in the visiting delegation to Guyana.
Meanwhile, in July, Dutch King Willem Alexander followed PM Rutte’s move and apologized for the role of the Dutch in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and asked for forgiveness for that crime against humanity.
“Of all the ways in which a person can be robbed of their freedom, slavery is surely the most painful, the most degrading, the most inhuman,” he said.
On the other hand, current Hindu Prime Minister of England Rishi Sanuk has stoutly refused to say sorry for Britain’s participation in slavery, taking a similar stance to that of former PM Dave Cameron when he visited Jamaica eight years ago.
The Gladstone saga is significant in British and Caribbean history, because he was one of those who had campaigned for slave owners to be compensated for losing their “property” when slavery was abolished in the 1830s. Records show that he was awarded nearly 100,000 pounds at the time. Historians reckon that this is equivalent to about 10 million pounds sterling today.
The effort to atone for their colonial-era actions coincides with the 400-year anniversary of the August 1823 slave rebellion in coastal Demerara, Guyana. It was led by a Black slave named Jack Gladstone, in keeping with the practice of enslaved people taking the name of plantation owners, and his father, Quamina. More than 200 slaves were killed, along with some whites, while about 50 were sentenced to death. Guyanese activists say surviving slaves were brutally tortured, with heads slashed off and planted on poles to frighten others from rising up again. In all, more than 10,000 slaves had revolted.