Draft Trinity Colonial Legacies Working Paper on TCD and Slavery
File Type:
PDFItem Type:
Working PaperDate:
2023Access:
openAccessCitation:
Mobeen Hussain, Ciaran O'Neill and Patrick Walsh,, Draft Trinity Colonial Legacies Working Paper on TCD and Slavery, 2023Abstract:
In April 2023 the Board of Trinity College Dublin voted to de-name the Berkeley Library. Built
in 1967 as the New Library and named after the Irish Philosopher, cleric, and Trinity alumnus,
Bishop George Berkeley in 1978, the library name became a subject of controversy from 2020
onwards when it became more widely known within the college community that Berkeley had
both owned slaves in colonial Rhode Island and had been an outspoken advocate for slavery.
Following a student-led campaign, a rigorous academic investigation, and a period of public
consultation the decision to de-name was implemented by the College Board who argued that
‘the continued use of the Berkeley name on its library is inconsistent with the University’s
core values of human dignity, freedom, inclusivity, and equality’. These very public
discussions about George Berkeley’s legacy at TCD open up wider questions about Trinity’s
connections to the transatlantic slave economy. This working looks beyond Berkeley and
outlines the various ways in which TCD staff, students and alumni were connected to the
trans-Atlantic slave economy. It shows that, unlike other peer institutions in the UK and
especially North America that benefited significantly from the profits derived from
enslavement, Trinity’s physical infrastructure was mostly financed from other sources. The
development of Trinity’s campus in the eighteenth and nineteenth century was financed principally from the revenues from the estates granted to the university as part of the
Munster and Ulster plantations, and then later from taxation revenues raised by the Irish
parliament. The impact of slavery on the life of the university however should not be limited
to assessing the monetary value of any financial legacies from enslavers.
Sponsor
Grant Number
Trinity College Dublin (TCD)
Author's Homepage:
http://people.tcd.ie/walshp9http://people.tcd.ie/oneilc29
Description:
PUBLISHED
Author: Walsh, Patrick; O'Neill, Ciaran
Sponsor:
Trinity College Dublin (TCD)Type of material:
Working PaperCollections
Availability:
Full text availableSubject (TCD):
Inclusive Society , Making Ireland , British Empire , Ireland and Empire , Public History , slaveryMetadata
Show full item recordLicences: