Guest post from Francine Howarth
Tearing
down statues achieves nothing and I am no apologist for slavery. I've included
it within novels, and believe me I do not paint history by way of a rose tinted
perspective as anyone will know if they've read any of my 17th century based
novels, and later Georgian and Regency romances where the subject of black
slavery and white bond slaves crops up.
Why
though, tear down statues that represent the past (regardless of who they were
- good or evil), because once they are gone or hidden away what those people
did will be forgotten in a world where history is rarely taught in schools
these days, where kids don't ask questions and don't bother to read history to
gain knowledge of facts when a movie glorifies one sort of violence and
condemns another without reasoned thought of the era in comparison to the
modern age, There is disparity in society worldwide no matter the colour of
skin. There always has been disparity, and sadly always will be, and education
is so important to bettering one's chances in life.
Barack
Hussain Obama became the 44th President of the USA, he achieved it by hard
graft schooling and higher education, by being what he could be with effort and
determination to succeed. Don't say African Americans and African Brits can't
rise to heights of glory, they can and do. It's tough, but it's tough out there
for kids with Downs syndrome, it's tough for kids with missing limbs, it was no
doubt tough for Peter Hayden Dinklage in his younger days (Tyrion Lannister in
Game of Thrones) but he didn't give up he soldiered on and look at him now,
One
has to realise the past was brutal in so many ways and slavery rife throughout
the ages from Egypt to Rome, to the Ottoman Empire, and it still happens today
and yet most people turn a blind eye to it. So why does slavery during the
17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries stir such strong emotions today, in
particular British involvement in slavery of Black Africans, even though the
French and Dutch shipped as many slaves in the same period, and for a goodly
while after Britain had abolished slavery? We cannot change the past, nor
should we excuse it, equally rebellion and violence never ends well as history
tells us, for it often leads to dictatorships, martial law, or total breakdown
of society and worse poverty and civil wars.
To
study history can teach one so much more than set belief in one way or another,
thus fact can often surprise one and open one's eyes to the cruel reality
Britain of today is little different than any other European country of today,
and little different than Europe of yester years, barring it once had an empire
on which the sun never set. Is that the fault of the youth of today, their
parents, or grandparents, no, it was down to great grandparents, great great
grandees back through the centuries, and here's a little about Edward Colston's
past and those he mingled with in royal circles. He was a son of Bristol, but
died at Mortlake.
James
VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566–27 March 1625) was King of
Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England 24 March 1603 until
his death in 1625.
In
1625 his son Charles I became king. When Charles I was beheaded 1649, Cromwell
took command and later became Lord High Protector. Cromwell died in 1658 and
his son Richard was toppled in favour of Charles II (the restoration 1660).
In
1619 James I was on throne when some 20 Africans arrived at Jamestown,
Virginia, where they were purchased from Dutch privateers to aid in the English
colony’s lucrative, labor-intensive cultivation of tobacco. As profits piled up
and slavery spread through the American colonies, the British crown decided to
exert control over the slave trade to the colonies (and the wealth it
generated) lasting throughout James I's liftime, Charles I, and Cromwell's term
in office 1649-1658. Also bear in mind thousands of white bond slaves from
England post English Civil Wars and Monmouth Rebellion, were likewise shipped
to the colonies.
Later
according to the Navigation Act of 1660, only English-owned ships could enter
colonial ports. That same year, King Charles II granted a charter to the
"Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa", which was led and
championed by the king’s younger brother James, Duke of York (later King James
II), this group had a monopoly on British trade with West Africa, including
gold, silver and slaves. But during England’s war with the Netherlands, the
original company collapsed under mounting debts in 1667, reemerging in 1672
with a new royal charter and a new name: the Royal African Company (RAC).
With
the death of William, and Mary, her sister Anne came to the throne 1702, she
died in 1714.
With
Anne's death came the reign of George I 1714 until his death 1727.
Renember
Edward Colston was born in 1636, had been trading in cloth, oil, wine, sherry
and fruit from Spain, Portugal, Italy and North Africa for many years and
played no part in slavery at all in the early years of his life, nor did he own
any slaves. He was by this time already an extremely wealthy man, his father a
merchant before him who served during the English Civil Wars, and one of many
Merchant Venturers of Bristol & London, thus he followed in his father's
footsteps and set up charities for the poor, built almshouses, schools,
hospitals, and owned much of Bristol's housing stock, some still standing
today. He traded out of both cities, and bear in mind, at that time Bristol was
the second most important port next to London during Charles II's reign until
Liverpool became the favoured haven for slavers in George II's reign. He became
the High Sheriff of the city, became an MP, and little different than most men
of his era. I am not excusing him on account of charitable foundations, just
stating fact not fiction.
Colston joined
London’s Royal Africa Company in 1680 in middle age during the reign of Charles
II, which was run by James Duke of York (later James II) With James II coming
to the throne in 1685 Edward Colston was offically appointed to the former
office of James Duke of York. and he became closely involved in the management
of the company (RAC) over the next eleven years and was its Deputy Governor for
two years. Colston will have benefited financially from his membership and was
actively involved in decisions concerning the transportation of many thousands
of enslaved Africans as had James Duke of York. During the time he was
associated with the Company (not in charge throughout) it is estimated that
around 80,000 slaves were embarked onto ships and around 20% of them died on
the passage across the Atlantic. In 1698 the company’s monopoly ended and the
slave trade was opened up to all British ports including Bristol and Liverpool.
In the following century it was thought as many as half a million Africans were
transported to the Americas in ships registered within Bristol and Liverpool
where before they were registered in London. Throughout his lifetime the slave
trade was promoted by the King and pursued by other European trading countries
as a legitimate trade, in particular Holland and France.
Demand for slaves
was still too high for one company to meet, however the RAC effectively lost
its monopoly in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution when King James II was
toppled in favor of William and Mary. It was some 30 years after Colston’s
death before the abolition movement started and it was not until 1833 the reign
of William IV, that the Abolition of Slavery Act officially banned all forms of
slavery, though the transportation of African slaves by British ships was
banned in 1807 during the reign of George III. In the meanwhile criminals in
the UK, men and women, were shipped to Australasia.
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