The Church of England’s decision to set up a £100m fund for communities adversely affected by historic slavery is the latest – and biggest – step it has taken over the past few years to “address past wrongs” relating to its links to the slave trade.
The report on the origins of the C of E’s healthy £9bn-plus endowment fund correctly describes the 17th century slave trade as “abhorrent” and a source of misery and injustice.
It was “shameful” that the church benefited from slavery, said Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, adding: “I am deeply sorry for these links.”
David Walker, the bishop of Manchester, also apologised and said he hoped the new fund would “create a lasting positive legacy, serving and enabling communities impacted by slavery”.
The C of E acknowledged on Tuesday that £100m was a large sum in a time of “significant financial challenges”. The amount may be generous but it is likely to spread thinly across educational and other projects in west Africa and the Caribbean, where the fund’s activities are expected to be focused.
Over recent years the C of E has been made painfully aware of its historical slavery links. As well as the transatlantic slave trade being a source of income for it in the 17th century, the church has honoured many people with links to slavery and colonialism, erecting statues, plaques and admiring headstones in its graveyards.
In 2021 the C of E announced it was reviewing thousands of monuments in 12,500 parish churches and 42 cathedrals that contained such historical references.
It told its clergy, officials and congregations that ignoring contested heritage was not an option. Possible actions included the removal, relocation or alteration of plaques and monuments, and addition of contextual information.
The move came shortly after an anti-racism taskforce, set up by the archbishops of Canterbury and York, urged the C of E to take decisive steps to address the legacy of its involvement in the slave trade. “We do not want to unconditionally celebrate or commemorate people who contributed to or benefited from the tragedy that was the slave trade,” it said.
Since then action has been taken in many places. After Black Lives Matters protesters tore down a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol, Vivienne Faul, the bishop of Bristol, said the city should “repent of the evils of our slave trading past”. Bristol cathedral later removed a window dedication to Colston.
Other examples of action taken include the removal by St Margaret’s church in Rottingdean, Sussex, of two headstones in its graveyard that contained racial slurs, and the covering up by St Peter’s, in Dorchester, of a plaque commemorating a plantation owner’s role in suppressing a slave rebellion.
