by Dr Michael M. O’Connor
Late on the evening of Saturday, 24 February, 2023, I received a call from Grenadian-American investigative journalist Dr Kellon Bubb. My Mayo Advertiser article of twenty-four hours earlier on the apology Laura Trevelyan gave for her ancestor’s role in historical slavery, was circulating in the Caribbean island of Grenada.
The following morning, I joined a panel on the Bubb Report to discuss Reparative Justice and the apology. The program was broadcast across Grenada, where people were waiting for the arrival of the Trevelyan family to deliver their apology and the agreed reparations formally.
My fellow panellists included Arley Gill, Chairman of Grenada’s National Reparations Commission. The commission seeks an apology and reparations from those who continue to benefit from historical slavery. In addition to families like the Trevelyans, the commission is targeting European nations, institutions, and corporations. Chairman Gill was closely involved in the discussions with the Trevelyans.
My role on the panel was to talk about Trevelyan family history generally, Charles Edward Trevelyan’s role in the Irish Famine, and Irish slaveholders who had plantations in the British Caribbean. While Britain’s historic role in Ireland is relatively well known in Grenada, the Trevelyan connection was not. The inevitable question followed: should Laura Trevelyan apologise for her ancestor's role in the Irish Famine?
Some in Ireland have raised the ‘What about us?’ flag and called for such an apology after news of the Grenada apology surfaced. No one in Ireland has raised the issue of the many Irish families and individuals who profited from slavery in Grenada and elsewhere. Predominantly Anglo-Irish, these families and individuals included Thomas Lindsey and his son, Thomas of Hollymount, enslavers of men, women, and children on the Telescope Estate in Grenada.
The involvement of Irish slaveholders in the British Caribbean is widely known and understood in the region, even if the detail of the families involved is not. These slaveholders left their distinctive mark on the land, the people, and the collective consciousness.
The passage of almost 200 years has not erased the memory of the terrible crimes perpetrated against Africans and their descendants.
Unlike Ireland, many former colonies of European nations did not emerge from colonialism as politically and economically stable entities. Former British, French, Dutch, Danish, and Spanish colonies in the Caribbean have been held back by the legacies of their terrible past and continue to struggle with poverty, illiteracy, healthcare, and economic stagnation.
Researchers in the Caribbean are actively working to identify slaveholders, including those who lived in or had connections with Ireland. Descendants are also seeking to reconstruct their family histories and genealogies from the records of slaveholders, including slave registers, runaway notices, and plantation records.
This work is taking place across the British Caribbean. Irish historians and researchers are uniquely positioned to inform and contribute to this research. In return, we may learn more about the nature of the individual slaveholders and the sources of the wealth they extracted from the Caribbean and remitted to Ireland.
The Caribbean Reparations Commission, or CARICOM, is a regional body created to establish the moral, ethical, and legal case for the payment of reparations by the governments of former colonial powers and the relevant institutions of those countries for crimes against humanity.
In October 2022, the Chairman of Digicel, Denis O’Brien, offered his support to the regional reparations movement. He proposed a plan whereby British and European governments and institutions would establish a long-term fund for reparations.
Given Ireland’s history and successful emergence from centuries of colonial domination, Ireland is uniquely placed to become an advocate in Europe for those in the Caribbean seeking restorative justice for the atrocities committed by European states over many centuries.
The proceeds of slavery fuelled industrial revolutions and left many parts of Europe with enviable public infrastructure and architecturally pleasing civic and residential buildings and country homes. The wealth taken from the Caribbean also helped build and sustain political dynasties, fund universities, and the generations of privileged sons who attended them before they, in turn, picked up the lash to keep the cycle going. It is time for this debt to be formally acknowledged and repaid.
There is no general call in Ireland for Laura Trevelyan to issue an apology for her ancestor’s role in the Famine. If she were to do so, it would likely be well received in many sections of Irish society.
Before we demand apologies, however, we need some clarity on what we mean by the word ‘apology.’ In 1997, it was believed then Prime Minister Tony Blair had issued an apology in respect of the Famine. The political gesture was well received in Ireland. It has recently transpired that Blair did not write the statement and did not sign off on it before it was issued. There is also the minor detail that the word ‘apology’ was omitted. The statement was read out by Irish actor Gabriel Byrne.
We are, therefore, still waiting for a sincere apology written by a serving British Prime Minister and delivered from his or her lips for the shocking inadequacy of the response to the Famine and the callous disregard for the Irish people.
On 27 February, members of the Trevelyan family read a letter of apology at the Grenada Trade Centre. The historic document was signed by 104 members of the family, including several that do not bear the Trevelyan surname.
Though there are detractors, as there always are, the outcome is positive for the people of Grenada, the commission, and the descendants of enslaved persons across the Caribbean. It also sets an important precedent.
