Draft Trinity Colonial Legacies Working Paper on TCD and Slavery

Abstract

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.