Church of Scotland admits slavery links and recommends apology

Names such as Jamaica Street and the Kingston Bridge also reflect the city's connection to the trade in human beings, with Edinburgh and other cities also having deep ties to the practice.

The Church of Scotland commissioned a report into its own links to slavery, which found that minister and elders had inherited wealth built on the trade, while the church itself is the custodian of a multi-million pound fund which can be connected to compensation paid out to a family upon the abolition of slavery.

The research covers a 131-year period between the Act of Union in 1707 and the abolition of slavery in Britain's colonies in the West Indies during the 1830s.

The report found that as many as 20,000 Scottish migrants moved to the West Indies during the second half of the 18th Century, and it's likely that churches such as St Andrew's in the Grenadian capital of St George's were built by slaves.

In some cases, money from slavery was bequeathed to parishes for specific purposes, such as poor funds distributed by the Kirk.

The names in the report include; Very Rev Angus MacKellar, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1840, who inherited a part-share of Hampden and Kerr estates in Jamaica through his wife Helen Stirling.

Read More: Scotland's slave trade profits are still helping institutions

Rev Peter Robertson, a minister at Callander, was awarded compensation for enslaved people on the Friendship Estate, Jamaica as an executor and trustee of Duncan Robertson who was his uncle.

Rev Dr Robert Walker, a prominent abolitionist, minister at Cramond and later Canongate Kirk, both Edinburgh, was left the residuary estate of his brother John Walker, a merchant in London and St Lucia.

The clergyman is the subject of a famous oil painting attributed to Henry Raeburn called the ‘Skating Minister’ which hangs in the National Gallery of Scotland.

The research, by the Faith Impact Forum, also examined buildings owned by the church to try to uncover any connections to the slave trade.

Alexander Grant, an enslaver and merchant in Jamaica, financed the clock tower at Aberlour Parish Church in Moray.

Gourock Old and Ashton Parish Church in Inverclyde bears the coat of arms of Gourock, which is widely understood to depict an enslaved man and has strong connections to Duncan Darroch, who made his fortunes in Jamaica.

Glasgow Cathedral contains a number of memorials to prominent city merchants who made their fortunes through tobacco and sugar plantations.

These include memorial windows to Alexander Spiers of Elderslie and Sir James Stirling of Keir, who owned slaves in Jamaica.

Cecilia Douglas, who owned slaves on St Vincent in the Caribbean, donated a large window to the cathedral and there are two memorial inscriptions in her memory and that of her husband Hugh Douglas at Bothwell Parish Church in Lanarkshire.

The report recommends to the General Assembly that a statement of acknowledgment and apology should be brought to a future General Assembly and a dedicated page about the Church’s connections to the slave trade should be created for its website.

It further recommends that a piece of appropriate art work should be commissioned to help congregations start conversations about the legacy of slavery.

The report affirms that the Church of today believes that racism is a sin, Black lives matter and all humans have equal dignity in the eyes of God.

It states: “Through this work the Legacies of Slavery Project Group have become aware of a wider story around slavery and the Church of Scotland which goes beyond the role of the Church in abolition.

Read More: Glasgow will not 'rush' to change city street names linked to slavery

"We have learned that stories of slavery and abolition are often nuanced and not always clear cut.

"We are also mindful of the number of ‘sons of the manse’ who profited, some significantly, from the enslavement of their fellow humans, whilst also recognising the commendable campaigns of many Presbyteries and Synods as part of the abolition movement.

“In many cases we do not see clearly defined direct relationships between slave ownership and the Church of Scotland, although slavery related connections between Scotland and the Caribbean clearly abound.

“We have learned that there is architectural evidence of connections to slavery within some of our church buildings, although it is not believed to be as wide spread as first thought.

“There are some examples where the Church or ministers can be seen to have benefitted directly from the profits of slavery.

“What we do see are many instances where money was left to ministers and kirk sessions to distribute amongst the parish or to be used for philanthropic causes.”