Prime Minister Mark Phillips welcomed an apology delivered in person by the descendants of John Gladstone, a former large-scale British plantation owner in Demerara, but is also calling for an apology and reparations from both the Dutch and British Governments, to compensate descendents of African slaves in the territory now known as Guyana.
The prime minister met with the Gladstone family members at his Camp Street Office on Saturday.
The Demerara rebellion of 1823 was an uprising involving between 9,000 and 12,000 enslaved people that took place in the colony of Demerara-Essequibo (Guyana) on the estates of John Gladstone, the father of nineteenth century reforming Prime Minsinster William Ewart Gladstone.
John Gladstone, a businessman, had inherited these estates in bankruptcy proceedings and never actually visited Guyana.
The exact number of how many took part in the uprising is uncertain. The rebellion, which began on 18 August 1823 and lasted for two days demanded full emancipation.
The uprising was triggered by a widespread but mistaken belief that Parliament had passed a law that abolished slavery and that this was being withheld by the colonial rulers. Instigated chiefly by Jack Gladstone, an enslaved man from the “Success” plantation, the rebellion also involved his father, Quamina.
The largely non-violent rebellion was brutally crushed by the colonists under governor John Murray. They killed many slaves: estimates of the toll from fighting range from 200 to 500 men and women.
After the insurrection was put down, the government sentenced another 45 men to death, and 27 were executed. The executed slaves’ bodies were displayed in public for months afterwards as a deterrent to others. Jack may have been deported to the island of Saint Lucia after the uprising.
News of Smith’s death strengthened the abolitionist movement in Britain. In Georgetown a main street was named after Quamina. In 2023 the National Portrait Gallery in London featured a picture of Jack Gladstone and the enslaved woman Amba in its exhibition in London.
When reparations were paid to slave owners at the end of slavery in the British empire in 1833, John Gladstone received the largest sum of all slaveowners, due to having the most slaves.
Additionally, the prime minister Phillips said the reparation that Guyana is looking for is included in CARICOM’s Ten Point Plan.
That plan consists of an apology, the establishment of a repatriation programme, and the development of cultural institutions for enslaved stories to be told, among other things.
He repeated that the British Government and its monarchy should take steps to immediately adopt and implement the CARICOM plan.
According to him, research is already being commissioned by King Charles III and he expects an apology from the British Government after the report is issued.
The apology was read by Charles Gladstone, during a ceremony at the University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus, on Friday.
“We demand an apology from the British Government just like how the Dutch Government would have apologised publicly. We suffered the same cruelty and crime against humanity in terms of slavery, which was started by the Dutch,” PM Phillips stressed.
“We are campaigning for them to include Guyana in that apology, we are campaigning for them to include Guyana in whatever reparative justice mechanisms they intend to put in place,” the prime minister asserted.
He also expressed the same for the British Government, noting that he would like them to sit with Guyana and properly look at what the country is offering.
Additionally, the prime minister said the reparation that Guyana is looking for is included in CARICOM’s Ten Point Plan.
That plan consists of an apology, the establishment of a repatriation programme, and the development of cultural institutions for enslaved stories to be told, among other things.
He underscored that the British Government and its monarchy should take steps to immediately adopt and implement the CARICOM plan.
According to him, research is being commissioned by King Charles III and he expects an apology from the British Government after the report is issued.
The apology was read by Charles Gladstone, during a ceremony at the University of Guyana, Turkeyen Campus, on Friday.
Source: Guyana Public Information Service.
