Lord Hain calls for education about history of slave trade
FORMER Welsh Secretary Peter Hain has said it’s time children in Wales were taught about the country’s involvement in the slave trade.
Speaking to our sister paper the Western Mail, Lord Hain also recalled how he was criticised 13 years ago when he apologised for Britain’s role in the trade on the 200th anniversary of its abolition.
In 2007 Lord Hain was Secretary of State for both Wales and Northern Ireland. At that time he authorised the publication of a booklet by the Wales Office called Slavery and Wales that was distributed to all schools, all libraries and other locations like National Trust properties.
The booklet set out the links between Wales and the slave trade. It said: “It seems extraordinary today to consider how many Welsh people benefitted – directly or indirectly – from the slave trade.
“They included Welshmen who owned plantations and slaves abroad; Welsh captains and seamen serving on ships that transported slaves; shipbuilders and their workmen making ships used in the trade; people living in stately homes financed by the slave trade; and crafts people making trinkets and other goods to be exchanged for slaves.”
The booklet said it could be argued that profits from the slave trade were used to finance the industrial revolution, with the money used to develop new machinery and build new factories. Equally, with vast plantations in the Caribbean owned by Welsh people, they had access to a cheap source of raw materials such as sugar and cotton.
Shipyards at Cardiff, Chepstow and Newport built ships that were used regularly on slave voyages.
Richard Pennant, an MP for Liverpool and later the first Lord Penrhyn, inherited the largest estate in Jamaica, owning 600 slaves and 8,000 acres of sugar plantations. He argued strongly against the abolition of slavery when it was debated in the House of Commons in 1789 and opposed a measure that would have reduced the number of slaves allowed on board a ship.
He also inherited not only the plantations in Jamaica but also Penrhyn Castle, near Bangor, where paintings include depictions of idyllic plantation scenes far removed from the misery of slaves’ daily lives.
Other beneficiaries of the slave trade included Thomas Williams, whose Parys Mine Company with sites on
Anglesey and Gower made copper items like rings and bracelets that were extremely popular with African leaders and were used to purchase slaves, and Anthony Bacon, whose connections with the slave trade helped him develop the iron works at Cyfarthfa and other industries in the Merthyr Tydfil area.
On the other hand, Welsh public figures were prominently involved in the abolition movement, including Iolo Morgannwg, founder of the National Eisteddfod and the Gorsedd of Bards.
Lord Hain said: “When I had the booklet published, [I was] asked how much it cost [in fact just under £4,000 for 12,000 copies]. This was symptomatic of the criticism – sometimes indirect, sometimes overt – that I received at the time.
“I think that since the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests there is a much greater understanding of why this issue is important.
“I’d like to see the Welsh schools curriculum address this – not going overboard, but making sure the connection is known and understood.
“School students are now taught about Nelson Mandela and the freedom struggle in South Africa and that’s fine. But this is much closer to home and shouldn’t be left out.”
For Lord Hain, there was a particular shock when he learnt that Gwydyr House, home of the Wales Office in London, had itself been the headquarters of the Slave Compensation Commission in the 19th Century – the body that channelled government money to slave owners to compensate them for losing slaves at the time of abolition.
“To think that slave owners got compensated, while the slaves got nothing, is truly awful,” he said.