The owner of the Guardian has issued an apology for the role the newspaper's founders had in transatlantic slavery and announced a decade-long programme of restorative justice.
The Scott Trust said it expected to invest more than £10m, with millions dedicated specifically to descendent communities linked to the Guardian's 19th-century founders. It follows independent academic research commissioned in 2020 to investigate whether there was any historical connection between chattel slavery and John Edward Taylor, the journalist and cotton merchant who founded the newspaper in 1821, and the other Manchester businessmen who funded its creation.
The Scott Trust Legacies of Enslavement report, published today, revealed that Taylor, and at least nine of his 11 backers, had links to slavery, principally through the textile industry. Taylor had multiple links through partnerships in the cotton manufacturing firm Oakden & Taylor, and the cotton merchant company Shuttleworth, Taylor & Co, which imported vast amounts of raw cotton produced by enslaved people in the Americas.
Researchers from the universities of Nottingham and Hull were able to identify Taylor's links to plantations in the Sea Islands, along the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, after reviewing an invoice book showing that Shuttleworth, Taylor & Co received cotton from the region, which included the initials and names of plantation owners and enslavers.
Another of the Guardian's early financiers, the West India merchant Sir George Philips, co-owned the Success sugar plantation in Hanover, Jamaica.
He unsuccessfully attempted to claim compensation from the British government in 1835 for what he regarded as the loss of his human property, which was 108 people. His partner, however, successfully claimed £1,904 19s 10d in compensation, which, according to the most conservative estimate, is worth approximately £200,000 today.
This story is from the March 29, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the March 29, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Ruined town re-emerges as Philippines dam dries up
Ruins of a centuries-old town have emerged at a dam parched by drought in the northern Philippines.
"This was a crisis': Hope Hicks tells of panic over Trump recording at hush money trial
Hope Hicks, Donald Trump's 2016 campaign secretary, described the former US president's staffers' panic when a recording emerged in which he had bragged about groping women, saying \"this was a crisis\" for his presidential campaign, as she took the witness stand yesterday in Trump's criminal hush money trial.
'Jews need to fight back' Shock and sadness in Israel at overseas protests
At the Jerusalem theatre, concertgoers and staff expressed a mixture of anger, sadness and defiance as weeks of proPalestinian protests across dozens of US college campuses reached a tumultuous climax 6,000 miles away.
Tenants should be given the 'right to garden', says leading horticulturalist
Developers and landlords should give tenants a \"right to garden\", a leading horticulturalist has said, as part of a campaign for more green spaces in new-build homes.
Last rites? Decline in vulture numbers forces Parsis to adapt burial practices
Traditional Zoroastrian burial rites are becoming impossible to perform because of the decline of vultures in India, Iran and Pakistan.
In Plato's words How AI is helping to reveal the secrets of ancient scrolls
More than 2,000 years after he died, Plato, the towering figure of classical antiquity and founder of the Academy, still makes the news.
Boy convicted of murder after stabbing near primary school
A 15-year-old boy who stabbed another teenager through the heart on the way home from school was found guilty of murder yesterday.
Super-rich spending up to £400,000 on Paris Olympics packages
Members of the global super-rich are spending as much as $500,000 (£400,000) on \"ultra exclusive\" packages for the Paris 2024 Olympics that promoters claim include meeting athletes, access to the athletes' village, and \"the chance to be part of the opening ceremony\".
Boost for travel agents as Race Across the World grips viewers
No celebrities, no luxuries, and a miserly £20,000 in prize money.
Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters becomes latest film to bring in cultural consultants
Film and TV productions are turning to a growing number of \"cultural consultants\" to help them navigate the choppy waters of sensitivities around ethnicity and faith.