Slave-trade link ‘taint’ to education bequest

Slave trade profits have been used to give grants to teachers and schools in the north-east for almost two centuries.

The truth behind the origins of the Dick Bequest – which is still issuing financial support in the north-east – was uncovered by two historians.

They want the next Scottish Government to order the remaining £1.7 million in the fund to be sent back to Jamaica.

The proposal is backed by Verene Shepherd, a Jamaican historian and director of the Centre for Reparation Research at the University of the West Indies.

The bequest was established after the death of Forres-born merchant James Dick in 1828. He left almost £120,000 for educational development in Aberdeenshire, Banff and Moray.

The annual interest was the equivalent of at least the salaries of all eligible schoolmasters in the 137 rural parishes in the area, and about 30,000 children were benefiting each year from the money by the 1850s.

It continues to distribute grants to help teachers in Aberdeenshire and Moray develop their skills through travel or study, and also supports the purchase of school equipment.

However, extensive research by David Alston and Donald Morrison has revealed Mr Dick made his fortune as a slave trader in Jamaica.

The link between the north-east and the slave trade was described by Mr Alston as a “particularly clear example of how we can follow the money through to our own day”.

Mr Dick had a business partnership with Robert Milligan, whose statue was removed last year by the Museum of London from its plinth in London’s Docklands, amid anger across the country about the UK’s links to slavery.

Mr Alston, a former Highland Council budget leader and NHS Highland chairman, is a historian who has been studying Scottish involvement in the slave trade for two decades.

He said: “Scots were disproportionately active in running the slaveworked plantations of the Caribbean, and the profits from this human trafficking spread benefits throughout society in Scotland.

“This is a particularly clear example of how we can follow the money through to our own day,” he added.

“Now, as a society, we have the opportunity to act justly and ensure that future benefits go to children in Jamaica.

“The power to do so lies with the MSPs we will elect this week.”

Mr Morrison is a retired history teacher who has worked in schools in Moray and Aberdeenshire, and in 2007 was a representative on the north-east committee set up to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade.

He said: “On his return to London from Jamaica with his fortune made, James Dick seems to have been keen to airbrush his involvement in the slave trade by describing his business there as mere book-keeper and merchant.

“However, in the last few weeks David Alston and I have uncovered evidence showing that he was indeed a slave trader. This changes everything. The Dick Bequest is now tainted.

“Teachers, students and parents will no doubt want to see any current disbursements from the fund frozen until such time that the new Scottish Government has time to do the right and just thing.”

The Dick Bequest Trust is run by 10 governors, of which five are elected by the Society of Writers to the Signet, two by the senate of Aberdeen University, and three by Aberdeenshire and Moray councils.

Aberdeenshire councillor Isobel Davidson, who is one of the trustees, said that while it was a charity, it was not a standard charitable trust where the trustees have the freedom of action, subject to oversight from the regulator.

“The Dick Bequest Trust is a statutory scheme established by statutory instrument with purposes and procedures directed by central government,” she said.

“The governors are therefore bound to follow the directions given to them under the paragraphs of the scheme and have no discretion to do otherwise,” she added.

The trust accounts show the value of the bequest was £1.69m at the end of 2019.

A total of 28 applications for grants were made by local teachers in 2019, with £33,743 distributed that year, up from 26 applications and £24,243 in grants in 2018.

In addition, £13,551 was allocated for school equipment in 2019, down from £20,567 in 2018.

Almost 200 years ago, James Dick made a public-spirited bequest he hoped would improve the education offered to generations of north-east children.

He would no doubt be proud to know that his legacy endures today, that his name is featured on a memorial, and that teachers continue to benefit from his generosity at a time when schools are crying out for experienced staff.

But knowing where he got the money to fund his largesse – from among the handsome profits he made from the vile and despicable trade in human beings that is an increasingly-scrutinised stain on our history – casts the whole scheme in a different light.

Those responsible for the fund find themselves faced with the sort of dilemma which has confronted many other establishments.

Diverting all of the “tainted” funds to communities which were blighted by slavery would undoubtedly represent a strong moral stand.

But it would also pull the plug on assistance for schools when other funding is in very short supply.

Doing nothing is not an option, but neither is not seeking a creative resolution which benefits all.

REVISITING THE PAST: James Dick had a business partnership with Robert Milligan, whose statue was removed from its plinth in London’s Docklands last year.

Historian David Alston.