Barbados plans to make Tory MP pay reparations for family’s slave past

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Barbados plans to make Tory MP pay reparations for family’s slave past - Barbados Today

SOURCE: The UK Guardian — The government of Barbados is considering plans to make a wealthy Conservative MP the first individual to pay reparations for his ancestor’s pivotal role in slavery. The Observer understands that Richard Drax, MP for South Dorset, recently travelled to the Caribbean...

barbadostoday.bb

The Observer understands that Richard Drax, MP for South Dorset, recently travelled to the Caribbean island for a private meeting with the country's prime minister, Mia Mottley. A report is now before Mottley's cabinet laying out the next steps, which include legal action in the event that no agreement is reached with Drax.

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Barbados became a republic a year ago after it removed Queen Elizabeth II as head of state.

The Drax family pioneered the plantation system in the 17th century and played a major role in the development of sugar and slavery across the Caribbean and the US.

Barbados MP Trevor Prescod, chairman of Barbados National Task Force on Reparations, part of the Caricom Reparations Commission, said the UN had declared slavery to be a crime against humanity: "If the issue cannot be resolved we would take legal action in the international courts. The case against the Drax family would be for hundreds of years of slavery, so it's likely any damages would go well beyond the value of the land."

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Among the plans being considered are that 17th-century Drax Hall is turned into an Afro-centric museum and that a large portion of the plantation is used for social housing for low-income Bajan families. There is also a recommendation that Richard Drax pays for some of the work.

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Drax's ancestor, Sir James Drax, was one of the first Englishmen to colonise Barbados in the early 17th century. He part-owned at least two slave ships, the Samuel and the Hope

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I hope this the first of many

 

[show me your skeleton]

good.

 

[404LinkNotFound]

It kinds angers me that these people got to continue live nice lives while thier colonies continued to be poor even after slavery ended.

 

[LewieP]

Good. His family had an estimated worth in the realm of £150m, curious how much of that is based on slave trade inheritance (and the investments derived from slave trade). Hope they can succeed in this.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

Good.

 

[Lurcharound]

Interesting. Does this have any legal chance of success?

 

[404LinkNotFound]

Interesting. Does this have any legal chance of success?

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From what i know this is a pretty new thing so im not sure if there is any legal precedent for it
A lawyer would know better than me tho.

 

[MatrixMan.exe]

Good thread to remind people that for all talk about Britain being the first country to ban the trafficking and use of slaves, which is patently false, when slavery was abolished the British government borrowed and paid out around £20 million (£17 billion in today's money) to British slave owners for their freed slaves. The slaves themselves got nothing. And the debt the government accrued through that act only finished being paid off by the British taxpayer in 2015.

That means that my family, the descendants of slaves brought to the Caribbean, and thousands of other black British people with similar heritage were contributing to paying that off as well. Fuck every white British family that benefited and continues to benefit from this. Hope we see more of this, even if chances of success are pretty slim.

 

[ozhenson]

Good thread to remind people that for all talk about Britain being the first country to ban the trafficking and use of slaves, which is patently false, when slavery was abolished the British government borrowed and paid out around £20 million (£17 billion in today's money) to British slave owners for their freed slaves. The slaves themselves got nothing. And the debt the government accrued through that act only finished being paid off by the British taxpayer in 2015.

That means that my family, the descendants of slaves brought to the Caribbean, and thousands of other black British people with similar heritage were contributing to paying that off as well. Fuck every white British family that benefited and continues to benefit from this. Hope we see more of this, even if chances of success are pretty slim.

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This blows my mind, but it really shouldn't. Gross, gross, gross. And probably something alot of tax payers are unaware of.

 

[Lurcharound]

Good thread to remind people that for all talk about Britain being the first country to ban the trafficking and use of slaves, which is patently false, when slavery was abolished the British government borrowed and paid out around £20 million (£17 billion in today's money) to British slave owners for their freed slaves. The slaves themselves got nothing. And the debt the government accrued through that act only finished being paid off by the British taxpayer in 2015.

That means that my family, the descendants of slaves brought to the Caribbean, and thousands of other black British people with similar heritage were contributing to paying that off as well. Fuck every white British family that benefited and continues to benefit from this. Hope we see more of this, even if chances of success are pretty slim.

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When I first learnt this I was flat out astonished. I've never been too interested in history to be honest but understood there'd been some reparations and assumed that must have gone to the slaves as apology. But of course it didn't; it went to the slavers instead.

Had no idea the debt only got paid off relatively recently though. Not quite as astonished at that but it's really quite shocking too.

 

[slider]

Good/about bloody time is the quick version of my response.

I don't know how you'd work out how much of their current wealth is based on their heinous past but I think a good starting point would be "nearly all of it".

There were lots of factors that I didn't know about. Thanks to those who've helped open my eyes further.

 

[MatrixMan.exe]

This blows my mind, but it really shouldn't. Gross, gross, gross. And probably something alot of tax payers are unaware of.

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Blows my mind as well. It's a lot of money. You're right that most taxpayers will be unaware and the cynic in me thinks that's partly by design. It's ironic considering the usual argument against reparations for slave descendants or former colonies is that it was hundreds of years ago and it's not the fault of modern-day British people that their ancestors enslaved ours.

When I first learnt this I was flat out astonished. I've never been too interested in history to be honest but understood there'd been some reparations and assumed that must have gone to the slaves as apology. But of course it didn't; it went to the slavers instead.

Had no idea the debt only got paid off relatively recently though. Not quite as astonished at that but it's really quite shocking too.

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What France did to Haiti shocked me even more. The fact that Haitian slaves revolting and freeing themselves from French colonial oppression - and America's subsequent role in taking on Haiti's 'debt' to France - can be directly correlated to Haiti's awful modern-day economic conditions is such an indictment of those countries. But again, it's not spoken about nearly enough.

Hell, France only canceled Haiti's debt in 2010 because of the devastating earthquake there.

 

[Uzzy]

Interesting. Does this have any legal chance of success?

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Would seem to be very unlikely, there's absolutely no precedent for it to my mind. What court would they even approach for it? Who would enforce any ruling, and how? Barbados could probably seize Drax Hall, given that's on Barbados itself, but beyond that? Hard to see any success legally. Needs a political solution.

 

[JonnyDBrit]

When I first learnt this I was flat out astonished. I've never been too interested in history to be honest but understood there'd been some reparations and assumed that must have gone to the slaves as apology. But of course it didn't; it went to the slavers instead.

Had no idea the debt only got paid off relatively recently though. Not quite as astonished at that but it's really quite shocking too.

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Such is the nature of government debt generally. Shit is kicked into the looooooong grass, due to the sheer amount that is borrowed at once, though whether or not it was actually being paid off into 2015 is unclear - that's when it got formally stricken off the books, but the Treasury genuinely doesn't know how many people may have held holdings converted from stock that descended of that original loan:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/476031/response/1153635/attach/3/Scan.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1

That is the mind boggling scale of this nonsense

Mind, it also reflects how powerful slavers were in British society right unto the eve, and even after, formal abolition. There was a secondary 'Slave Compensation Act' 4 years later (note: compensation 'for' slaves in the sense of after their removal, rather than to them), because slaveholders were wealthy buggers who could agitate the shit out of things. They were a big part of the opposition to the reform act of 1832, and the 'compensation' was as much a way to buy them off and prevent them getting any ideas on how they might 'better' spend their money.

Would seem to be very unlikely, there's absolutely no precedent for it to my mind. What court would they even approach for it? Who would enforce any ruling, and how? Barbados could probably seize Drax Hall, given that's on Barbados itself, but beyond that? Hard to see any success legally. Needs a political solution.

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And yeah, that's the unfortunate reality of it - this is something without ready precedent, especially as a nation versus a family and its finances. Mind, at least the Drax family is in the rather undeniable position that it could pay something, even if it didn't reflect the likely impossible to calculate sum of how they've benefited, as a symbolic gesture. Something to show they aren't just keen to carry on as if nothing had happened. Giving up Drax Hall seems like the best bet

 

[Motorcycle Dork]

Hope Barbados wins the reparations and seize his assets.

Good thread to remind people that for all talk about Britain being the first country to ban the trafficking and use of slaves, which is patently false, when slavery was abolished the British government borrowed and paid out around £20 million (£17 billion in today's money) to British slave owners for their freed slaves. The slaves themselves got nothing. And the debt the government accrued through that act only finished being paid off by the British taxpayer in 2015.

That means that my family, the descendants of slaves brought to the Caribbean, and thousands of other black British people with similar heritage were contributing to paying that off as well. Fuck every white British family that benefited and continues to benefit from this. Hope we see more of this, even if chances of success are pretty slim.

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I didn't know it was paid by taxpayers and up til 2015, fucking hell!!

 

[MechaMarmaset]

This is good, but the property in Barbados is a drop in the bucket compared to the family's net worth. Even if they took 90% of this family's value, they'd still have $18 million USD of wealth to fuck about with. The family's wealth alone is 3% of Barbados' GDP. Imagine the good that could be done if they had to actually pay up. The Drax family holds 5 times more land than the city I grew up in.

Other than seizing that property, I doubt this pans out though unless Drax himself throws a pittance at them to avoid controversy. Not that there'd be too much controversy to begin with. Too many idiots worried about the fantasy of reparations garnishing their paychecks to ever hold anyone accountable.

 

[Hollywood Duo]

Do all that and more

 

[Lkr]

This is good, but the property in Barbados is a drop in the bucket compared to the family's net worth. Even if they took 90% of this family's value, they'd still have $18 million USD of wealth to fuck about with. The family's wealth alone is 3% of Barbados' GDP. Imagine the good that could be done if they had to actually pay up. The Drax family holds 5 times more land than the city I grew up in.

Other than seizing that property, I doubt this pans out though unless Drax himself throws a pittance at them to avoid controversy. Not that there'd be too much controversy to begin with. Too many idiots worried about the fantasy of reparations garnishing their paychecks to ever hold anyone accountable.

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similar takeaway in that this is very "generous" for Drax. based on his total wealth, this is a small price to pay to make any potential controversy go away.
something I did learn googling drax hall though is that it looks like its still an active sugar plantation as well? so it sounds like the family is still profiting off of it to this day, shutting it down sounds like a decent start? lol

 

[RisingStar]

Good thread to remind people that for all talk about Britain being the first country to ban the trafficking and use of slaves, which is patently false, when slavery was abolished the British government borrowed and paid out around £20 million (£17 billion in today's money) to British slave owners for their freed slaves. The slaves themselves got nothing. And the debt the government accrued through that act only finished being paid off by the British taxpayer in 2015.

That means that my family, the descendants of slaves brought to the Caribbean, and thousands of other black British people with similar heritage were contributing to paying that off as well. Fuck every white British family that benefited and continues to benefit from this. Hope we see more of this, even if chances of success are pretty slim.

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Does the treasury have a list of everyone that benefited from that payment to abolish slavery? I would love to see that get leaked. Not only is it a shit ton of money, but it's also fucked their economy for several generations due to sheer classism and racism.

 

[Paroni]

Does the treasury have a list of everyone that benefited from that payment to abolish slavery? I would love to see that get leaked. Not only is it a shit ton of money, but it's also fucked their economy for several generations due to sheer classism and racism.

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Here you go.

Legacies of British Slavery

www.ucl.ac.uk

And here's details of John Samuel Wanley Sawbridge Erle-Drax and the compensation (£4,293 12s 6d) paid to him.

Summary of Individual | Legacies of British Slavery

www.ucl.ac.uk

 

[AuthenticM]

awesome.

 

[RisingStar]

Here you go.

Legacies of British Slavery

www.ucl.ac.uk

Summary of Individual | Legacies of British Slavery

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Thanks, going to go through this over lunch.

 

[Scottoest]

Seizing the property is obviously something the government can do pretty easily. Getting actual money out of the MP will probably just come down to PR considerations unless he has direct financial ties they can seize on too. Assuming the UK would even allow a British citizen (let alone politician) be subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC (the US doesn't - no idea if the UK does), trying to convict someone based on the conduct of their ancestors is probably not a strong legal case unless that kind of generational culpability is spelled out very directly.

 

[JonnyDBrit]

Here you go.

Legacies of British Slavery

www.ucl.ac.uk

And here's details of John Samuel Wanley Sawbridge Erle-Drax and the compensation (£4,293 12s 6d) paid to him.

Summary of Individual | Legacies of British Slavery

www.ucl.ac.uk

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Worth noting how the net of overall beneficiaries is almost certainly wider than this too. What the project is able to follow is what families had enslaved people and thus were able to claim compensation, whether through the Act of 1833, or 1837. It can then speculate or note other investments that an individual or family were able to make, aided by that buffer of money, but it cannot figure out who did or didn't hold any bonds related to the government debt for those payments.

Though, you also get to see how byzantine, and potentially opportunistic, the web of associations on the part of slaveholders was. Everyone in any way associated with a property was likely to try and get in on the pot, even if usually only one or two people would actually get the claim.

Details of Claim | Legacies of British Slavery

www.ucl.ac.uk

 

[Tohsaka]

Good.

 

[Elegant Weapon]

Reparations for the descendants of the the enslaved is absolutely necessary. I hope they get what they're owed.

 

[Edmond Dantès]

Reparations for all former colonies and the return of all stolen artifacts held in UK museums is the ultimate goal.