The leader of the world’s Anglican communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, on Tuesday said that one of his ancestors owned slaves at a plantation in Jamaica.
His admission comes after he previously apologised for the Church of England’s historic links to slavery, calling it a “source of shame”, and urging followers to confront the past.
The funding body of the church, which was originally founded with investments in an 18th century company involved in the African slave trade, has also promised to compensate communities affected by the practice.
Welby, 68, said in a personal statement on his website that his late biological father, Anthony Montague Browne, “had an ancestral connection to the enslavement of people in Jamaica and Tobago”.
“His great, great grandfather was Sir James Fergusson, an owner of enslaved people at the Rozelle Plantation in St Thomas, Jamaica,” he added.
Fergusson, who died in 1838, was the last co-owner of enslaved people at the plantation, and received compensation funds when slavery was abolished.
Montague Browne, who was Winston Churchill’s last private secretary, died in 2013, three years before Welby discovered his parentage, having always believed that his father was Gavin Welby, who raised him.
The archbishop, a former oil executive, had no relationship with his biological father and did not receive any money from him while he was alive or from his estate.
Welby said a recent trip to Jamaica had helped him “confront the legacies of enslavement in the Caribbean and the responsibility owed to those who still suffer from the effects of this evil trade”.
A number of former British colonies in the region are currently pushing for a formal apology and reparations from the royal family for their role in the trans-Atlantic trade in people.
Three candidates to be the next secretary-general of the Commonwealth group of mainly former British colonies, whose leaders meet this week in Samoa, have also all said they back compensation.
Welby’s formal apology for the Church of England’s role in the slave trade came in the wake of global anti-racism protests in 2020.
He also called the church “deeply institutionally racist” and apologised for Britain’s treatment of black people and other minorities since World War II.
In 2023, the Church Commissioners who handles the body’s finances and investments were told to increase its compensation scheme for communities affected by slavery to £1 billion.
