A Christian charity with its headquarters in London is to pay £7mn in reparations to communities in Barbados because of its past links to slavery.
USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) is committing to a long-term project, Renewal & Reconciliation: The Codrington Reparations Project in partnership with Codrington Trust / Church in the Province of the West Indies (CPWI), in Barbados. USPG has pledged 18mn Barbadian dollars (approximately £7mn), which will be spent in Barbados over the next 10-15 years to support this work.
The project will cover four key areas in collaboration with the descendants of the enslaved: community development and engagement; historical research & education; burial places & memorialisation, and family research. Work will begin in the Spring.
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USG and Codrington Trust / Church are working together because in 1710, The Society of the Propagation of the Gospel (the charity’s former name) received a bequest from Sir Christopher Codrington for two plantations in Barbados, which included a population of enslaved African men, women, and children. From then until 1838 SPG owned and ran the estates through local managers, and from 1712 to 1838, the Codrington Estate was managed as a plantation business.
Commenting, Rev’d Duncan Dormor, General Secretary of USPG said:
“USPG is deeply ashamed of our past links to slavery. We recognise that it is not simply enough to repent in thought and word, but we must take action, working in partnership with Codrington where the descendants of enslaved persons are still deeply impacted by the generational trauma that came from the Codrington Plantations.”
Archbishop Howard Gregory, Primate and Metropolitan of The Church of the Province in the West Indies, said:
“It is our hope that, through this reparations project, there will be serious reckoning with the history of the relationship between The Codrington Trust and USPG, but also a process of renewal and reconciliation that will be healing of the pain of the past.”
In related news, earlier this year, the Church Commissioners (which support the work and mission of the Church of England) published a full report into its own historic links to transatlantic chattel slavery, announcing a funding commitment of £100mn in response to the findings.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.