The initiative by the Trevelyan family to pay reparations is very laudable and welcome (British slave owners’ family makes public apology in Grenada, 27 February). They directly benefited from slavery, so this is appropriate. I have serious reservations about reparations being paid by me. The government paying reparations means that my taxes would be used. My ancestors gained nothing from slavery. They worked in the mills and factories of Lancashire, particularly in Salford and Manchester, in the most appalling conditions, and were housed in insanitary, dangerous and unhealthy accommodation with a record of disease and deprivation among the worst in Europe. Anyone who doubts this should read Engel’s 1845 book, The Condition of the Working Class in England.
If reparations are to be paid, a tax on the aristocrats and fat cats whose ancestors profited from slavery would be the only just solution.
John Cookson
Bournemouth, Dorset
