Glasgow Uni set to pay £20 million in slave trade reparations

Glasgow Uni have agreed to pay £20m in reparations after its links to the transatlantic slave trade were revealed.

The reparations come after a study discovered Glasgow University benefitted £200 million from the slave trade.

The money will be spent on setting up the Glasgow-Caribbean Centre for Development Research. It is said to strengthen academic links between Glasgow and the West Indies.

The centre will have bases in both the West Indies and Glasgow, and will look into and support study into slavery and other areas to benefit those countries which were affected by the trade.

The university will fund the centre for at least 20 years.

Glasgow Uni received countless donations during the 18th and 19th centuries and researches investigated and found that some payments were linked to slave trade profits.

In today's value those profits are estimated to be worth between £16.7m – £198m.

In 2018, a year-long study found "while Glasgow University university played a part in the abolitionist movement, it also received significant financial support from people whose wealth derived, in part, from slavery."

Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice-Chancellor of University of West Indies said: "I am proud of the decision of the University of Glasgow to take this bold, moral, historic step in recognising the slavery aspect of its past and to rise as an advocate of reparatory justice, and an example of 21st century university enlightenment."

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